scion

Q: 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."

Q: 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."

noun

sci·on ˈsī-ən

Synonyms of scion next

: descendant, child

especially : a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family

: heir sense 1

scion of a railroad empire

: 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 That’s after Congress leader and party scion Rahul Gandhi was given a two-year jail sentence last March on defamation charges that were later suspended by the Indian Supreme Court. —

Astha Rajvanshi, TIME, 2 Apr. 2024 An environmental lawyer and a scion of one of the great American political families, Mr. Kennedy gained further prominence in recent years for his promotion of anti-vaccine falsehoods and conspiracy theories, and for his broadly anti-establishment, anti-corporate ethos. —

Rebecca Davis O’Brien, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024 The recent scandals rocking Miami government have engulfed two scions of local political dynasties and a third politician who has been a proud chaos agent for 40-plus years. —

Susan Merriam, Miami Herald, 28 Mar. 2024 The series follows the middle-aged scion to the Tout-Paris, a Cancan hotspot akin to the Moulin Rouge. —

Ben Croll, Variety, 19 Mar. 2024 Naguib Sawiris, the scion of the Egyptian family that owned the development, curtly denied the sale in a reply on X. And no more was heard from or about the character called Mohamed al-Alawi — until late December. —

Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2024 What possesses the wealthy scion of one of America’s greatest industrialist families to embark on a late-in-life crusade to overhaul the fundamental infrastructure of the entire internet? —

Paolo Confino, Fortune, 16 Mar. 2024 Six decades later, Lilly’s grandson in San Diego made a shocking discovery: the painting had resurfaced in Europe, tied to the scion of a German industrialist family that helped finance Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. —

Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2024 The 28-year-old Ambani scion helms Reliance’s green energy business. —

Anto Antony, Fortune Asia, 1 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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 *-d^h-, 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

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“Scion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scion. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

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Kids Definition

scion

noun

sci·on ˈsī-ən

: a living part (as a bud or stem) that is cut from a plant and joined to another plant in grafting

: descendant entry 2 sense 1, child

: heir sense 1

Last Updated: 12 Apr 2024 - Updated example sentences

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scion

noun

Frequently Asked Questions

Examples of scion in a Sentence

Word History

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Cite this Entry

Kids Definition