• Arabic: (’ibn)
• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܒܪܐ (brā’)

  Hebrew: ברא (brā’)

• Bosnian: sin
• Croatian: sin
• Finnish: poika
• Lithuanian: sūnus
• Serbian:

  Cyrillic: син

  Roman: sin

• Slovene: sin
• Spanish: hijo

• Arabic: (’ibn)
• Bosnian: sin
• Croatian: sin
• Finnish: poika
• Serbian:

  Cyrillic: син

  Roman: sin

• Spanish: hijo

• ttbc Afrikaans: seun
• ttbc Albanian: bir
• ttbc Apache:
• ttbc Chiricahua: -ghe’, -zhaa
• ttbc Jicarilla: -yi’įį
• ttbc Mescalero: -ye’
• ttbc Apache: -ye’ ("man’s son"), ishkiinhn ("woman’s young son"), -zaa’é, -za’é, -’itł’ádn ("woman’s unmarried son"), -nne’/-nnde’/-nde’ ("woman’s married son")
• ttbc Aragonese: fillo
• ttbc Catalan: fill ^
• ttbc Chinese: 兒子 (érzi)
• ttbc Esperanto: filo
• ttbc German: Sohn ^
• Guaraní: a'ýra (ta'ýra/ra'y/ita'ýra) (of a man); memby (of a woman)
• ttbc Hebrew: בֵּן (1,2)
• ttbc Hungarian: fiú
• ttbc Indonesian: putra, anak laki-laki
• ttbc Interlingua: filio
• ttbc Inuktitut: ᐃᕐᓂᖅ
• ttbc Irish: mac (1)
• ttbc Italian: figlio
• ttbc Korean: 아들 (adeul) ^
• ttbc Latin: filius
• ttbc Lojban: bersa
• ttbc Navajo: -ghe’ ("man’s son"), -yáázh ("woman’s son")
• ttbc Norwegian: sønn
• ttbc Novial: filio
• ttbc Old English: sunu , bearn , eafora
• ttbc Persian: (pesar)
• ttbc Polish: syn
• ttbc Portuguese: filho
• ttbc Romanian: fiu
• ttbc Scottish Gaelic: mac
• ttbc Swedish: son
• ttbc Telugu: కొడుకు (koDuku), కుమారుడు (kumaaruDu)
• ttbc Tok Pisin: pikinini man
• Tupinambá: a'yra (t-, t-) (of a man); membyra (of a woman)
• ttbc Turkish: oğul [-ğlu]
• ttbc Ukrainian: син (syn)

Aromanian

Etymology

sonus

Noun

1. sound

Catalan

Etymology 1

Pronoun

son

1. Possessive pronoun of the third singular person for a singular male object; his, her.

Etymology 2

Latin somnus

Noun

son

1. sleep

French

Etymology 1

Latin sonus.

Noun

fr-noun m

1. sound

   Le son de ce piano est agréable.

   The sound of this piano is nice.

2. outside layer of a grain, bran

   Ceci est du pain de son.

   This bread is done with bran.

Etymology 2

From Vulgar Latin sum, from classical Latin suum.

Adjective

son ( sa, p ses)

1. his, her, its (used to qualify masculine nouns)

   Elle a perdu son chapeau.

   She lost her hat.

   Il a perdu son chapeau.

   He lost his hat.

   J'aime son amie

   I like her/his girlfriend

Related terms

sa , ses p

Northern Sami

Pronoun

son

1. he or she

Spanish

Noun

1. An Afro-Cuban musical form.
2. A musical composition in this form.

Verb

es-verb-form ser

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

1. son; someone's male child
2. sv-noun-form-def so

Antonyms

• dotter

Related terms

• barn
• dotterson
• sonbarn
• sonson
• styvson
• svärson

Turkish

Adjective

1. last, final.

A son is a male offspring; a boy, man, or male animal in relation to either or both of his parents. The female equivalent is a daughter.

Social issues regarding sons

In many pre-industrial societies and some current countries with agriculture-based economies, a higher value was, and still is, assigned to sons rather than daughters, giving males higher social status, because males were physically stronger, and could perform farming tasks more effectively.

In China, a One-child Policy is in effect in order to address rapid population growth. Official birth records have shown a rise in the level of male births since the policy was brought into law. This has been attributed to a number of factors, including the illegal practice of sex-selective abortion and widespread under-reporting of female births.

In some societies that practice primogeniture, sons will customarily inherit before daughters.

Specialised use of the term son

American slang

In the lexicons of American English and African American Vernacular English, the term is sometimes used (1) by older men addressing younger men, implying the speaker's seniority; and (2) as one of endearment between young Black males and others who imitate hip hop culture, mainly in urban and inner city.

The origin of the term "Son" in the vernacular context was used among American East Coast urban youths as a derogatory term that extended beyond justifying seniority. Often, it was used to claim or instigate one's sentiment toward a rival. The term's derogatory intention began to shift as rap groups like the Wu-Tang Clan used it in their lyrics of the rough ghetto life as a form of endearment. As urban/hip-hop culture has been portrayed as a glamorous subculture to the youths today, the term has been commonly used as playful greeting for those who seek an urban identity to develop their own culture from and will use the term "Son" as well other terms found in rap lyrics like "Nigga", Cuhz (Cousin). Still, those who use or believe these terms are derogatory find differentiation in how the word is enunciated or structured. Mainly, in how the term is pronounced in comparison to the sentence structure as well as the body language (ie- gestural, proxemics, etc,).

Christian symbolism

Among Trinitarian Christians, "The Son" or Son of God, meaning the Light of God ([John 1:4-9]), refers to Jesus Christ.

In Semitic names

The Arabic word for son is "ibn". Because family and ancestry are important cultural values in the Arab World, Arabs often use "bin", which is a form of "ibn", in their full names. The "bin" here means "son of". Consequently, e.g. the Arab name of "Saleh bin Tarif bin Khaled Al-Fulani" translates as "Saleh, son of Tarif, son of Khaled; of the family Al-Fulani" (cf. Arab family naming conventions).

This is cognate with the Hebrew language "ben", as in "Judah ben Abram HaLevi", which means "Judah, son of Abram, the Levite".

Indications in names

details Patronymic In many cultures, the surname of the family means "son of", indicating a possible ancestry -- i.e., that the whole family descends from a common ancestor. It may vary between the beginning or the termination of the surname.* Son. Example: "Jefferson" (son of Jeffrey), "Wilson" (son of William), "Edson" (son of Edward), etc.* Mac or Mc. Example: "MacThomas" (son of Thomas), "MacDonald" (son of Donald), "MacLean" (son of Lean), etc.* Son. Example: "Magnusson" (son of Magnus); "Sigurdsson" (son of Sigurd), "Odinson" (son of Odin), etc.

• Sen. Example: "Henriksen" (son of Henrik), "Ambjørnsen" (son of Ambjørn), "Christensen" (son of Christen), etc.* Es. Example: "Gonçalves" (son of Gonçalo), "Henriques" (son of Henrique), "Fernandes" (son of Fernando), etc.* Ez. Example: "Gonzalez" (son of Gonzalo), "Henriquez" (son of Henrique), "Fernandez" (son of Fernando), etc.* di. Example: di Stefano (son of Steven), di Giovanni (son of John), di Giuseppe (son of Joseph), etc.
• de. Example: de Paolo (son of Paul), de Mauro (son of Maurus), de Giorgio ( son of George) etc.
• d`. Example: d`Antonio (son of Anthony), d`Adriano (son of Adrian), d`Agostino (son of Augustine) etc.;

Romanian

• "a" as prefix ( exception for women names that start in a and probably for others that start in vowels ) & "ei" as suffix. Example: "Amariei" (son of Mary), "Adomnitei" (son of Domnita), "Alenei" (son of Elena/Leana), etc* ski. Example: "Janowski" (son of John), "Piotrowski" (son of Peter), "Michalski" (son of Michael), etc.

aunt, auntie, blood brother, brethren, brother, bub, bubba, bud, buddy, child, country cousin, cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, daughter, descendant, father, first cousin, foster brother, foster child, frater, grandchild, granddaughter, grandnephew, grandniece, grandson, granduncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, half brother, heiress, junior, kid brother, lad, laddie, mother, nephew, niece, nuncle, nunks, nunky, offspring, scion, second cousin, sis, sissy, sister, sister-german, sistern, son and heir, sonny, stepbrother, stepchild, stepdaughter, stepsister, stepson, stripling, tad, unc, uncle, uncs, uterine brother