scion

n.

1. A descendant or heir.
2. also ci·on (sī'ən) A detached shoot or twig containing buds from a woody plant, used in grafting.

[Middle English, from Old French cion, possibly of Germanic origin.]

(SY-ehn)

noun
1. An heir or descendant.
2. A shoot or twig of a plant, cut for grafting. Also cion.

Etymology
From Old French cion, of unknown origin

The joey (or scion) for today's kangaroo word is: son.

Usage
"One of the more lively moments at last week's get-together of a group of Iraqi dissidents was when Prince Hassan, Jordan's elder statesman, strode into their London meeting-place. He then embraced a scion of King Feisal, his murdered cousin and the last king of Iraq." — A King For Iraq?, The Economist (London), Jul 2, 2002.

"Poetry is indeed something divine. It is at once the centre and circumference of knowledge; it is that which comprehends all science, and that to which all science must be referred. It is at the same time the root and blossom of all other systems of thought; it is that from which all spring, and that which adorns all; and that which, if blighted, denies the fruit and the seed, and withholds from the barren world the nourishment and the succession of the scions of the tree of life." — Percy Bysshe Shelley, Defence Of Poetry, (written 1821, published 1840).

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One would think that a scion (descendant) of a family of political leaders would be serious and dignified. Not so George W. Bush, complains Maureen Dowd in The New York Times:

"Reporters who covered W.'s 2000 campaign often wondered whether the Bush scion would give up acting the fool if he got to be the king."

Didn't happen, says Dowd, adding:

"Perhaps it's that anti-patrician chip on his shoulder, his rebellion against a family that prized manners and diplomacy above all. But when bored or frustrated, W. reserves the right to be boorish..."

Link: Animal House Summit - New York Times

Posted July 20, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

noun

One descended directly from the same parents or ancestors: child, descendant, offspring, progeny. See kin.

n

Definition: offshoot, descendant
Antonyms: ancestor, cause, predecessor, root, source

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A cutting from a woody plant that is joined onto rootstock of another plant in grafting and budding.

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[SI-uhn] Another name for a cutting taken from a vine and grafted onto a root system from another vine.

A detached shoot of a woody plant, containing two or more buds, to be used in grafting. As distinguished from a cutting, which will be rooted, a scion is inserted in a stock (a living plant). When scion and stock have been completely united, the buds of the scion will continue to produce growth similar to that of the plant from which it was cut, not that of the stock onto which it was grafted.

IN BRIEF: Descendent, offspring, heir.

Scion of chiefs and monarchs, where art thou? — Lord Byron (1788-1824), English poet, from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto iv. Stanza 168.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - ætling, skud, podekvist

Nederlands (Dutch)
telg, ent, loot

Français (French)
n. - jeune descendant (sout), (Bot) scion

Deutsch (German)
n. - Nachkomme, Sproß, Schößling

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - βλαστός, (μτφ.) γόνος

Italiano (Italian)
rampollo, innesto

Português (Portuguese)
n. - rebento (m), garfo (m), herdeiro (m)

Русский (Russian)
побег (растения), потомок, наследник

Español (Spanish)
n. - vástago, descendiente, injerto, retoño

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - avkomling, ättling, telning

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
幼芽, 子孙

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 幼芽, 子孫

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 어린 가지, (특히 접목의) 접순, (귀족 등의) 자제

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 若枝, 子弟, 子孫

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سليل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חוטר, נצר, ייחור‬

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scion	scion xa
Scion Tc	scion hub