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scion

noun
SaySY-uhn/ˈsaɪ.ən/UK/ˈsaɪən/

Pluralscions

2 meanings of scion

Practice

  1. 1
    great family membernouncountable
    A descendant or heir of a distinguished, wealthy, or royal family.

    As the scion of a centuries-old aristocratic house, he felt the weight of every expectation.

    The novel follows a restless scion who walks away from his family's shipping empire.

    UsageUsually scion of + family: the scion of a banking dynasty.

    Similarheir, descendant

    Oppositeancestor, forebear, progenitor

    Note

    Behind the family meaning stands the gardener's shoot: Middle English sion and Old French cion go back, through Frankish, to a Germanic word for "sprout." A scion is a family's newest growth, so the word usually arrives with of and a pedigree, as in the scion of an ancient noble family, or "scion of a time honoured dynasty" in Mary Shelley's The Last Man (1826). David Leavitt's "scion of Derek Moulthorp" (1986) applies it to a foster son raised by a children's author.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • The family meaning has botanical ancestry: Middle English sion and Old French cion derive through Frankish from Germanic words meaning 'sprout'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man, first published in 1826. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted phrase occurs in The Last Man. gutenberg.net.au
    • David Leavitt used the quoted phrase in The Lost Language of Cranes. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Lost Language of Cranes was first published in 1986. en.wikipedia.org
    • The phrase refers to Eliot, raised by children's author Derek Moulthorp and his partner as their foster son. en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2
    graft shootnouncountable
    A detached shoot or twig bearing buds from a woody plant, used in grafting; more generally, any shoot or twig.

    She grafted a scion from the old pear tree onto a younger rootstock.

    Growers select scions from trees that reliably produce the best fruit.

    UsagePaired with rootstock: graft a scion onto a rootstock.

    Similarcutting, graft, shoot, slip

    Oppositerootstock

    Note

    Its working partner is rootstock. In a graft, the scion supplies the upper growth, including the shoots and fruit, while the stock supplies the roots and often the lower trunk. Hilary Mantel's phrase is "grafting scion to rootstock" in The Mirror and the Light (2020). Gervase Markham's "Cyons" of 1613 shows the spelling without the s. It is a reminder that this was the word's starting point, before the family meaning grew from it.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

Practice

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Origin

Scion comes from Middle English sion via Old French cion, which came from Frankish and Proto-Germanic words meaning "sprout." These go back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to split open, sprout," the same source as Old English ċīþ ("young shoot"). It is a doublet of chit.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts