scion

a young member of a famous family

TRANSLATION

scion = Nachkomme, Spross, Ableger, Sprössling

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

“Undercover heiress: the Chicago meat-packing SCION who outfoxed the Gestapo. She took tea with Sigmund Freud, had an affair with Stephen Spender, risked her life in the Austrian resistance – and inspired an Oscar-winning film. Can a new show about Muriel Gardiner capture her extraordinary life?”

Claire Armitstead - The Guardian (13th September 2021)

Did you
know?

scion
noun

- a young member of a rich and famous family

- a person who was born into a rich, famous, or important family

- a detached living portion of a plant (such as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting

Cambridge Dictionary / Merriam-Webster Dictionary


WORD ORIGIN

The Old French word ciun referred to a cutting or twig of a plant that could be used for grafting. This is when you get two related types of plant to grow together into one. For example, you can graft a scion of an orange tree onto a lemon tree and the tree will produce two types of fruit.


FAMILY CONNECTIONS

Speaking of fruit, if you say that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, you mean that a child is similar to his or her parents in looks or in characteristics. Here are a few other idioms that express the same thing:

- a chip off the old block — "Thompson Jr has exactly the same taste in clothing as his father. He’s a chip off the old block."

- like father, like son — "Did you see the memo written by Cooper Jr? He spelled the same words wrongly! Like father, like son."

- spitting image — "Miller Jr looks just like his father. He's the spitting image."


SYNONYMS

The children or descendants of a person or animal:

afterbear, brood, chick(s), children, chip off the old block, clutch, cub(s), daughter(s), descendant(s), first-generation, fledgling, flesh and blood, fruit of one’s loins, fry, generations to come, heiress, heir(s), heredity, inheritor, issue(s) kiddie, kiddie(s), kiddiewink(s), kin, kittens, later generations, line, lineage(s), litter, little angel (darling, doll, little one), minor, moppet, munchkin, nearest and dearest, nestling, new (next) generation, nipper(s), offshoot(s), offspring, piglets, progeniture, progeny, pup, puppies, quiverful, SCION(S), set of offspring, small fry, son(s), son and heir, sons and daughters, spawn, sprat, sprout, squirt, stripling, successor(s), suckling, tinies, tiny tot, toddler, tot(s), tyke, whelp, youngling


SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Isn’t it interesting how successive generation SCIONS can make or break a family business?”


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