scion

noun

sci·​on ˈsī-ən How to pronounce scion (audio)
Synonyms of scionnext
1
a
: descendant, child
especially : a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family
b
: heir sense 1
scion of a railroad empire
2
: a detached living portion of a plant (such as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a scion and an heir?

There is a considerable overlap between the meanings of scion and heir, as both words may be defined as "one who receives property from an ancestor" or "one who is entitled to inherit property." However, they also have subtle differences between them. While both may refer to a descendant, heir is the more appropriate choice for a child or relative who inherits something. And while one may be the heir to a family of modest or significant means, scion is often found in the sense "a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family."

What is the difference between a scion and a stock in horticulture?

In horticultural use scion is defined as "a detached living portion of a plant (such as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting." Stock, on the other hand, refers to such things as "the main stem of a plant," "a plant from which cuttings are taken," and "a plant or plant part united with a scion in grafting."

How do you pronounce scion?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) pronunciation we give for scion is ˈsajən. For those who don’t read IPA easily another way to think of it is that scion is pronounced as if sigh & un formed a single word, with the emphasis placed on the sigh.

Examples of scion in a Sentence

He's a scion of a powerful family.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The 71-year-old political scion, who has long claimed that childhood vaccines are responsible for the disorder, shared his plans on Thursday during a Cabinet meeting with Trump. —Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 10 Apr. 2025 In keeping with the family tradition, the final Shubert scion had also produced nothing of consequence. —Frank Rich, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2025 Poulter plays a radically un-self-aware scion of a billionaire family in A24’s absurdist comedy about wealth and privilege (which also stars Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd and Téa Leoni). —Seija Rankin, HollywoodReporter, 3 Apr. 2025 Challenges in the media industry and management missteps ultimately led to the decision by controlling shareholder Shari Redstone to sell to Skydance Media founder and tech scion David Ellison. —Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for scion

Word History

Etymology

Middle English sioun, syon "branch, twig, offshoot," borrowed from Anglo-French cioun, ciun, sioun (continental Old French cion "offspring, new growth of a plant") from ci-, going back to an Old Low Franconian outcome of West Germanic *kīþa- "sprout, bud" + Old French -on, suffix, perhaps here with diminutive value, going back to Latin -ōn-, -ō, suffix of nouns denoting persons with a prominent feature; *kīþa- "sprout, bud" (whence also Old English cīþ "sprout, shoot, bud," Old Saxon kīth "shoot," Old High German kīd, also -kīdi in frumikīdi "first one"), going back to Indo-European *ǵei̯H-ti- or *ǵiH-ti-, noun derivative of a verbal base *ǵei̯H- "burst out, sprout," whence, from a nasal present, Germanic *kīnan- (whence Old English cīnan "to burst open, gape, [of skin] be chapped," Old Saxon kīnan "to sprout," Old High German chīnan "to sprout, germinate," Swedish dialect kina "to yawn," Gothic keinan "to sprout," uskeinan "to put forth, send out [growth]," with past participle uskijanata lacking -n-); whence also, with suffixed *-dh-, Latvian ziêdu, ziêdêt "to bloom," Lithuanian žydė́ti

Note: The Anglo-French forms are taken from the Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, though their source is unspecified; the Anglo-Norman Dictionary lacks an entry for this word. The suffix should perhaps be taken as filling out a word that otherwise has little phonetic substance. — Another generally cited nominal derivative of the Germanic verb is represented by Old English cine, cinu (weak feminine noun) "chink, fissure" (compare chink entry 1), Middle Dutch kēne "cleft, crack." Armenian cil "stem, bud, top of a crop plant" has also been adduced, though Martirosyan (Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon, Brill, 2009) believes that "I[ndo-]E[uropean] proposals are not convincing."

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of scion was in the 14th century

Rhymes for scion

See All Rhymes for scion

Browse Nearby Words

sciomantic
scion
scion-rooting
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Cite this Entry

“Scion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scion. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.

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Kids Definition

scion

noun
sci·​on ˈsī-ən How to pronounce scion (audio)
1
: a living part (as a bud or stem) that is cut from a plant and joined to another plant in grafting
2
a
: descendant entry 2 sense 1, child
b
: heir sense 1

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