scion (2009-06-08)

Part of Speech: noun

Pronunciation: ['sI-yên]

Definition: (1) A twig with buds cut from a plant for grafting onto another plant, a graft. (2) A descendant (of a wealthy family).

Usage: Today's word is widely used in the world of horticulture, where scions of one plant are regularly grafted to the stock of others: "Grafton tried to graft apple, plum, peach and pear scions to his papaya tree in hopes of producing his own fruit salad but it didn't work." One of the advantages of wealth, is that you get to call your descendants "scions" rather than merely "chips off the old block." You simply can't say, "Buddy Roe is the scion of a family of poor redneck dirt farmers who never had two nickels to rub together." To be a scion, your family must not only be wealthy, but their money must be old, not new.

Suggested Usage: Remember to ignore the silent "c" in today's word—many can't resist the temptation to pronounce it. Some dictionaries even accept the spellings "cion" or "sion." We don't like either.

Etymology: Today's word is the French word "scion" from the verb scier "saw, cut." The French verb is akin to Spanish segar "cut, mow" and Italian "segare"—all from Latin secare "cut," which underlies English"section," "secant," and several more. A Latin extension of "secare" is scindere "cut in two," the past participle of which is "scissum," origin of our word "scissors" and also related to "scythe." In Greek the same root emerges as schizo "I split" found in schizophrenia "split mind."