English → Latin
“son” in Latin
fīliadaughter; any female offspringpuera child; chit; a boy, lad (typically between ages 7-14 but could be younger) (older than an īnfāns but younger than an anātusson; children
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
son
(with reference to parents)(with reference to parents), filius (opposed to puella): (with reference to sex) puer: sexus virilis (also of several sons, Nep.): stirps virilis (also of all the sons of a family collectively, Liv.): so also suboles virilis (Tac.). ☞ In the poets, and also in Quint., we find natus or gnatus for filius, but it is never thus used as a substantive by the best prose writers; so that we cannot say natus meus, tuus, etc., for filius meus, tuus, etc.; or nati parentum for liberi parentum. In Cic., Amic., 8, 27, and De Fin., 5, 25, 65, natus is used as a participle. A young son, little son, filiolus; filius parvus: to have a son, another son, filio, filiolo augeri (Cic.); sexu, stirpe virili augeri (after Liv. and Tac.): to be anybody’s son, aliquo natum, prognatum esse (Liv.); aliquo ortum esse (Cic.): to lose a son, filium amittere, perdere: to leave no son, sexum virilem non relinquere (Nep.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for son?
- The usual Latin words for “son” are fīlia, puer, nātus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.