scion

noun sci·on \ ˈsī-ən \

|Updated on: 18 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: Get Familial With scion

Definition of scion

1 : 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

2 a : descendant, child; especially : a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family

b : heir 1

scion of a railroad empire

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Examples of scion in a Sentence

He's a scion of a powerful family.

Recent Examples of scion from the Web

Trump endorsed semi-perennial candidate and basketball scion Danny Tarkanian in this race, mainly to get him out of what was then a Senate primary against Heller.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "GOP Could Get Even Trumpier in June 12 Primaries," 12 June 2018
So what’s an embattled scion with a genetic imperative to win the back pages to do?

— mark lisanti, Vanities, "The Trump Family Power Rankings: Be Best, but Not Too Best," 11 May 2018
Najib, a scion of Malaysia’s political elite and son of the country’s second prime minister, is accused of embezzling at least $1 billion from a state investment fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

— laignee barron / langkawi, Time, "Could Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad Become the World’s Oldest Leader? He Speaks to TIME About What Sparked His Political Comeback," 8 May 2018
Baker Street West is also home to Holmes' Hounds, a Sherlockian scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars, and has more than 80 members, ages 9 to 88.

— debbie arrington, sacbee, "Where the game is always afoot for Sherlock lovers | The Sacramento Bee," 20 Apr. 2018
Minutes earlier, Stern delivered a characteristically bawdy address in honor of the classic New Jersey rockers, giving the band plenty of love while clowning on frontman Jon Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora and Rolling Stone scion Jann Wenner.

— maeve mcdermott, USA TODAY, "Howard Stern's 10 best Bon Jovi jokes at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction," 14 Apr. 2018
In their first phone conversation, Cohen made the historic mistake of asking Cooper about his mother, heiress and designer jeans scion Gloria Vanderbilt.

— allison stewart, chicagotribune.com, "Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen: Nothing is off-limits for AC2 tour," 10 Apr. 2018
The battle for some of Russia’s richest gold mines has an unusual cast of characters: the scion of one of Europe’s great banking families, a Kazakh tycoon with his own cryptocurrency, hedge fund D.E. Shaw, and mystery shareholders.

— thomas biesheuvel, Bloomberg.com, "A Crypto Tycoon, Banking Heir and the Mysterious Fight for Gold," 14 May 2018
The best moments in the film are the handful of scenes that offer some impression of Kennedy as a person rather than as a figurehead, or a scion.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "What If Robert F. Kennedy Had Become President?," 30 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scion.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Get Familial With scion

Scion derives from the Middle English sioun and Old French cion and is related to the Old English cīth and the Old High German kīdi (meaning "sprout" or "shoot"). When it first sprouted in English in the 14th century, scion meant "a shoot or twig." That sense withered in horticultural contexts, but the word branched out, adding the grafting-related meaning we know today. A figurative sense also blossomed referring to one's descendants, with particular reference to those who are descendants of notable families.