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Glite Dictionary
foster son

foster son

3 3.4
A boy or man raised by a family that is not his birth family
  • noun
  • /ˈfɔstər sʌn/
: hijo de crianza
  • After years in foster care, my foster son finally found a loving family to call his own.
  • year-old foster son

We found that Jackson had a foster son, I think it was, or stepson foster son who was going to Yale, but he got thrown out.

Examples

  • According to the police report Jonathan Parker, foster son of Maryville Police Department's Lt. Donald Parker dreamed of the killer.

    Shocker (1989)

  • Then, one Father's Day, Jonathan and a few foster sons traveled with Henry to run a race in New York.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I remember you just had a foster son.

    Hubie Halloween (2020)

  • You know, when you become my apprentice, uh, you're going to live with me, very much like a foster son.

    An American Christmas Carol (1979)

  • Your story about your intrepid daughter reminded me of my foster son, Dan.

    Blog text (3)

  • Thus, Sissay began his life as "Norman Mark Greenwood," the foster son of white parents.

    Blog text (25)

  • Jimmy's son, Chuckie, you know, his foster son, was in the thing, too, but he didn't know it.

    The Irishman (2019)

  • Andrew Jackson had a foster son, I think it was, who came to Yale, but got thrown out, got thrown out for, I don't know, something.

  • One man who wanted a neighbor to practice some traditional curing techniques on his foster son told me he had a couple of drinks before going to the curer to make the request.

    Academic text (1994)

  • "Not Ector's son, but his foster son," Myrddin corrected, in a voice whose carrying power quieted not only those around us but the townsfolk on the east side of the field.

    Fiction book (1991)

Synonyms

foster child
vsfoster son
24 3.0

A young person raised by people who are not their birth or adoptive parents

is specifically about male children rather than any child
fosterling
vsfoster son
  • Archaic
1 9.1

A child raised and cared for by people who are not their birth parents

is the more common modern term not the older rare word
foster-son
vsfoster son
1 3.5

A boy or young man raised and cared for by people who are not his birth parents

has identical meaning but written without a hyphen

Surface Forms

foster son singular
foster sons plural

Morphology

foster + son

The meaning 'a boy or man raised as one's son though not biologically related' is directly and compositionally derived from 'foster' (nonbiological caregiving) + 'son' (male offspring). This adjective+noun pattern is transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents is likely to infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Foster son comes from the old sense of foster, which meant to feed and care for a child, so the image is of someone taking in a boy and raising him like a son. So foster son means 'a boy who is raised by someone who is not related to him by birth'.