sūn

grandson

surname Sun; descendant

child (子) + small (小) = grandchild

A grandchild is literally a small child — one generation smaller than your own child. The shrinking of 子 into 小 captures the idea of lineage continuing in a diminished, younger form.

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ChildSemantic
SmallSemantic

她的子今年才五岁。

tā de sūn zi jīn nián cái wǔ suì。

Her grandson is only five years old this year.

老人说他的子都住在外地。

lǎo rén shuō tā de zǐ sūn dōu zhù zài wài dì。

The old man said his descendants all live in other places.

Words with 孙

重孙

chóng sūn

great-grandson

重孙女

chóng sūn nǚ

great-granddaughter

重孙子

chóng sūn zi

great-grandson

长孙

zhǎng sūn

two-character surname Zhangsun

长孙无忌

zhǎng sūn wú jì

Zhangsun Wuji (c. 594-659), politician and historian of early Tang

龟孙子

guī sūn zi

(coll.) son of a bitch

亚马孙

yà mǎ sūn

Amazon

亚马孙河

yà mǎ sūn hé

Amazon River

儿孙

ér sūn

descendant

儿孙自有儿孙福

ér sūn zì yǒu ér sūn fú

younger generations will do all right on their own (idiom)

公孙

gōng sūn

two-character surname Gongsun

公孙起

gōng sūn qǐ

same as Bai Qi 白起

More characters with 子