son

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of son in English

English Online Dictionary. What means son‎? What does son mean?

Translingual

Symbol

son

(international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-5 language code for Songhay languages.

English

Alternative forms

sonne (obsolete)

Pronunciation

(offspring, beget) IPA^(key): /sʌn/
(Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): /sʊn/
(Spanish borrowing) IPA^(key): /sɒn/
Rhymes: -ʌn, -ɒn
Homophone: sun

Etymology 1

From Middle English sonn, sone, sun, sune, from Old English sunu (“son”), from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *sewH- (“to bear; give birth”).

Noun

son (plural sons)

One's male offspring.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:son
A male adopted person in relation to his adoptive parents.
A male person who has such a close relationship with an older or otherwise more authoritative person that he can be regarded as a son of the other person.
A male person considered to have been significantly shaped by social conflict.
A person regarded as the product of some place.
A familiar address to a male person from an older or otherwise more authoritative person.
(UK, New York City, colloquial) An informal address to a friend or person of equal authority.
(computing) The current version of a file, derived from the preceding father file.

Antonyms

(with regards to gender) daughter
(with regards to ancestry) father, mother, parent

Hypernyms

child

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English sonen, sunen, from the noun (see above).

Verb

son (third-person singular simple present sons, present participle sonning, simple past and past participle sonned)

(transitive) To produce (i.e. bear, father, beget) a son.
(transitive) To address (someone) as "son".

Etymology 3

From Spanish son (literally “tone, sound”).

Noun

son (uncountable)

(music) Son cubano, a genre of music and dance blending Spanish and African elements that originated in Cuba during the late 19th century.

Anagrams

ons, Nos, Nos., nos., NSO, ONS, nos, NOS, Nºˢ

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch zon, from Middle Dutch sonne, from Old Dutch sunna, from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂un-, *sóh₂wl̥.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɔn/

Proper noun

son

Sun, sun (star of the solar system)

Derived terms

Aromanian

Etymology

From Latin sonus. Compare Daco-Romanian sun.

Noun

son n (plural sonuri)

sound

Related terms

asun

Ashkun

Etymology

Borrowed from a descendant of Sanskrit सुवर्ण (suvárṇa).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈson/

Noun

son (Sanu)

gold

References

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin sunt.

Verb

son

third-person plural present indicative of ser

Azerbaijani

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *soŋ (“back, end”). Compare Turkish son below.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [son]

Noun

son (definite accusative sonu, plural sonlar)

end, ending
Synonym: axır

Antonym: baş

sonda isə başa düşdük ki... ― but at the end we understood that...

Filmin sonunda əsas personaj ölür. ― The main character dies at the end of the movie.

Declension

Derived terms

Adjective

son

recent, latest
last, final
Synonym: axırıncı

ötən əsrin son onilliyi ― last decade of the previous century

References

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Catalan son, from Vulgar Latin sum, reduced form of Latin suum, accusative of suus, from Proto-Italic *sowos. Compare Occitan and French son.

In unstressed position in Vulgar Latin suum, suam etc. were monosyllabic and regularly became son, sa etc. in Catalan. When stressed they were disyllabic and became seu, sua > seua etc.

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /sun/ (always unstressed)
(Valencia) IPA^(key): /son/ (always unstressed)

Determiner

son m (feminine sa, masculine plural sos, feminine plural ses)

his, her, its
their
your (alluding to vostè or vostès)

Usage notes

The use of son and the other possessive determiners is mostly archaic in the majority of dialects, with articulated possessive pronouns (e.g. el meu) mostly being used in their stead. However, mon, ton, and son are still widely used before certain nouns referring to family members and some affective nouns, such as amic, casa, and vida. Which nouns actually find use with the possessive determiners depends greatly on the locale.

The standard masculine plural form is sos, but sons can be found in some dialects.

In Algherese, son and its forms mainly give reference to vostè.

References

El Català de l'Alguer : un model d'àmbit restringit, Barcelona, 2003, →ISBN, page 31

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old Catalan son, from Latin somnus, from Proto-Indo-European *swépnos. Feminine noun by analogy with fam (“hunger”) and set (“thirst”).

Alternative forms

so (Balearic)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈsɔn]

Noun

son m (plural sons)

sleep

Noun

son f (uncountable)

sleepiness
Synonym: somnolència

Derived terms

malson

Related terms

somni

References

“son”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
“son” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Verb

son

imperative of sone

Faroese

Noun

son

indefinite accusative singular of sonur

Finnish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈson/, [ˈs̠o̞n]
Rhymes: -on
Syllabification^(key): son
Hyphenation^(key): son

Contraction

son

(dialectal) contraction of se on

Usage notes

This spelling is only used in texts meant to represent dialectal speech. The same contraction is common in rapid speech in many Finnish varieties, but the spelling is usually not used even in the most informal text or chat messages.

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *sum. Doublet of sin (possessive pronoun).

Determiner

son (feminine sa, masculine plural sos or ses, feminine plural ses) (ORB, broad)

his, her, its (third-personal singular possessor)

References

son [1] in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
son in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French son, suen, suon, from Latin sonus (the current form may be remade after or influenced by sonner).

Pronunciation

(Europe) IPA^(key): /sɔ̃/
(Canada) IPA^(key): /sõ(ː)/
Homophones: sons, sont

Noun

son m (plural sons)

sound
(slang) A piece (of music); a (musical) work; an opus.
Synonyms: musique, morceau

Derived terms

Related terms

sonner
sonore

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle French son, from Old French son, from Vulgar Latin sum, a reduced/atonic variant of suus, suum, from Proto-Italic *sowos, from Proto-Indo-European *sewos, from *swé (“self”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɔ̃/, (before a vowel) /sɔ̃.n‿/, /sɔ.n‿/

Determiner

son m (feminine sa, plural ses)

(possessive) his, her, their, its (used to qualify masculine nouns and before a vowel)

Usage notes

Son is used before all singular nouns beginning with a vowel or a mute H, even those that are feminine. However, sa is used with singular feminine nouns beginning with a consonant or an aspirated H.

Derived terms

sondit

Related terms

Etymology 3

Inherited from Latin secundus (presumably through an earlier Old French form *seon; compare an attested Medieval Latin seonno, seonnum). Cognate with Catalan segó, Old Occitan segon. The meaning derives from the fact that bran results from a second sifting of flour. Doublet of second, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɔ̃/

Noun

son m (plural sons)

bran

Anagrams

Galician

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsoŋ/ [ˈs̺oŋ]
Rhymes: -oŋ
Hyphenation: son

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese sõo, son (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria, probably influenced by or possibly borrowed from Old Occitan son), from Latin sonus. Alternatively, regressively derived from the verb soar. Compare Portuguese som, Spanish son.

Alternative forms

som (reintegrationist)

Noun

son m (plural sons)

sound

Related terms

soar
sónico
sonoro

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

som (reintegrationist)
são (reintegrationist)

Verb

son

am; are; inflection of ser:
1. first-person singular present indicative
2. third-person plural present indicative
Son parvo ― I'm stupid

Son parvos ― They're stupid

References

Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “son”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “soon”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “son”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “son”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “son”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

German

Pronunciation

Pronoun

son

Alternative form of so'n
- 1857, Der Glücksstern. Novelle von Julie Burow (Frau Pfannenschmidt), Bromberg, page 95:

Icelandic

Noun

son

indefinite accusative singular of sonur

Indonesian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈson/, [ˈson]
Rhymes: -sɔn
Hyphenation: son

Etymology 1

Unknown (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

son (plural son-son)

(agriculture) harvested young garlic at the age of 70 days after planting

Etymology 2

Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 村(そん) (son, “village”). Romanised according modified Kunrei-shiki romanization.

Noun

son

(historical, 1942-1945) Synonym of kecamatan

Suffix

son

(historical, 1942-1945) Synonym of kecamatan

Irish

Noun

son

only used in ar son

Istriot

Verb

son

first-person singular present indicative of ièsi
second-person singular present indicative of ièsi

Italian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /son/
Hyphenation: son

Verb

son

Apocopic form of sono (“I am; they are”)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsɔn/
Rhymes: -ɔn
Hyphenation: sòn

Noun

son m (apocopated)

Apocopic form of sono (“sound”)

References

Japanese

Romanization

son

Rōmaji transcription of そん

Ladin

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Verb

son

first-person singular present indicative of ester

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

sun
sion

Verb

son

third-person singular present indicative of ester

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sɔn]

Noun

son m anim

(archaic) swan (waterfowl of genus Cygnus)

Declension

Synonyms

kołp
šwon

Manx

Alternative forms

er son

Etymology

A contraction of er son, from Middle Irish ar son of unknown etymology. Cognate to Irish ar son and Scottish Gaelic airson; see the Irish entry for further etymology.

Preposition

son

for
by
(used with verbal noun) want

Usage notes

Not used with pronouns. See er son for inflected forms.

Derived terms

cre hon (“for what purpose?”)
son shickyrys (“for certain”)

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

son

Alternative form of sonne (“sun”)

Etymology 2

Noun

son

Alternative form of sone (“son”)

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French son.

Noun

son m (plural sons)

sound

Descendants

French: son

Mirandese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsõ/

Verb

son

third-person plural present of ser

Musi

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from sound.

Noun

son

loudspeaker

Northern Sami

Etymology

From Proto-Samic *sonë.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

son

he, she, it

Inflection

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse sonr, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz, from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [so̞ːn]

Noun

son m (definite singular sonen, indefinite plural søner, definite plural sønene)

a son

Derived terms

steson

Related terms

Male given names:

References

“son” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan

Pronunciation

(Niçard) IPA^(key): [ˈsũᵑ]

Etymology 1

Determiner

son m sg (feminine singular sa, masculine plural sos, feminine plural sas)

his; her; its
Synonyms: seu, sieu

Etymology 2

Verb

son

third-person plural present indicative of èsser

Old English

Etymology

From Latin sonus.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /soːn/

Noun

sōn m

a musical sound; vocal, instrumental

Derived terms

sōncræft

References

Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller (1898) “sōn”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Old French

Alternative forms

soun (Anglo-Norman)
sun (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin sum, a reduced/atonic variant of Latin suum.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sun/
Rhymes: -on

Determiner

son m (feminine sa, plural ses)

his/hers/its (third-person singular possessive)

Descendants

Middle French: son
- French: son

Old Frisian

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *sān (“immediately”). Cognates include Old English sōna, Old Saxon sān and Old Dutch *sān.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsɔːn/

Adverb

sōn

soon

References

Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

Old Irish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin sonus.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /son/

Noun

son m

sound

Inflection

Etymology 2

Pronoun

son

Alternative spelling of són

Mutation

Old Norse

Noun

son

accusative singular of sonr

Old Swedish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Norse sonr, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz.

Noun

son m

Declension

Descendants

Swedish: son

Scots

Etymology

From Old English sunu (“son”), from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús (“son”), from *sewH- (“to bear, give birth”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sɪn]

Noun

son (plural sons)

son, male child

Derived terms

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

son m (indeclinable)

sake, account

Usage notes

Note that a grammaticalised unit meaning ‘for’ is formed by a prepositional phrase combining the preposition air / ar with a nominal or pronominal argument and son. (These structures are sometimes called ‘compound prepositions’.)

Derived terms

airson, carson

Preposition

son (+ genitive)

Colloquial form of airson.

Alternative forms

'son

Skolt Sami

Etymology

From Proto-Samic *sonë.

Pronoun

son

he, she, it

Inflection

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈson/ [ˈsõn]
Rhymes: -on
Syllabification: son

Etymology 1

From Latin sonus, probably through the intermediate of Old Occitan son (or influenced by it); alternatively, but less likely, regressively derived from the verb sonar (the more expected form is sueno that appeared in some Medieval texts). Compare English sound and Portuguese som.

Noun

son m (plural sones)

tone (pleasant sound)
(music, genre, uncountable) son (Afro-Cuban musical form)
Synonym: son cubano
(music) musical composition in this form

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

son

third-person plural present indicative of ser

References

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From English Sun (from Middle English sunne, from Old English sunne (“sun; the Sun”)) or Dutch zon (from Middle Dutch sonne (“sun”), from Old Dutch sunna), both from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂un-, *sóh₂wl̥.

Noun

son

Derived terms

sonde

Descendants

→ Saramaccan: sónu

Swedish

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish son, sun, from Old Norse sonr, sunr from Proto-Germanic *sunuz, from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús. Masculine in Late Modern Swedish.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /soːn/
Rhymes: -oːn

Noun

son c

a son
Antonym: dotter

Declension

Related terms

-son (see there for more derivations)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

son

definite singular of so

References

son in Svensk ordbok (SO)
son in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

nos, ons, sno

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish صوڭ (soŋ, “end, consequence”), from Proto-Turkic *soŋ (“back, end, after”).

Cognate with Old Turkic [script needed] (soŋ, “after; late”); Tatar, Kazakh, Kyrgyz соң (soñ), Southern Altai соҥ (soŋ), Uzbek so'ng (“after”), Yakut онтон (onton, “then”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈson/
Hyphenation: son

Adjective

son

last, final
Antonym: ilk

Noun

son (definite accusative sonu, plural sonlar)

end, ending
sona erdirmek ― bring to an end, put an end to
consequence, result, conclusion

Declension

Related terms

sonra
sonlu
sonsuz
sonuç
sonlanmak

References

“son”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu

Anagrams

Uzbek

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

son (plural sonlar)

thigh

Venetan

Verb

son

first-person singular present indicative of èser

Vietnamese

Etymology

This word had initial *k-r- in Old Vietnamese.

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [sɔn˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʂɔŋ˧˧] ~ [sɔŋ˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʂɔŋ˧˧] ~ [sɔŋ˧˧]

Adjective

son • (侖, 倫, 崙, 󱏟, 󰅬, 𣗾, 𣘈, 𪳔, 𧹪, 𪿽, 󱠟)

vermilion
rệp son ― a cochineal
(literary) unshakable; firm

Noun

(classifier thỏi, cây (“lipstick”)) son • (侖, 倫, 崙, 󱏟, 󰅬, 𣗾, 𣘈, 𪳔, 𧹪, 𪿽, 󱠟)

red cosmetic
(by extension) lipstick

Derived terms

Volapük

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [son]

Noun

son (nominative plural sons)

Declension

Synonyms

hicil

Hypernyms

Coordinate terms

daut
jicil

Derived terms

Zhuang

Etymology

From Proto-Tai *soːlᴬ (“to teach”). Cognate with Thai สอน (sɔ̌ɔn), Northern Thai ᩈᩬᩁ, Lao ສອນ (sǭn), Lü ᦉᦸᧃ (ṡoan), Tai Dam ꪎꪮꪙ, Shan သွၼ် (sǎun), Tai Nüa ᥔᥩᥢᥴ (sóan), Ahom 𑜏𑜨𑜃𑜫 (son).

Pronunciation

(Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /θoːn˨˦/
Tone numbers: son¹
Hyphenation: son

Verb

son (1957–1982 spelling son)

to teach

son

son

Translingual

Symbol

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Antonyms

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Verb

Etymology 3

Noun

Further reading

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Derived terms

Aromanian

Etymology

Noun

Related terms

Ashkun

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

References

Asturian

Etymology

Verb

Azerbaijani

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

Adjective

References

Catalan

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Determiner

Usage notes

See also

References

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Noun

Derived terms

Related terms

References

Danish

Verb

Faroese

Noun

Finnish

Pronunciation

Contraction

Usage notes

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

Determiner

See also

References

French

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

Pronunciation