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Glite Dictionary
sonless

sonless

1 5.7
A person who has no son
  • adjective
  • /ˈsʌnləs/
: sin hijo
  • The elderly couple often spoke about their desire for a son, which left them feeling sonless and heartbroken.

Examples

  • Since this society places different values on males and females, it makes sense that a sonless family would compensate for this loss.

    Academic text (1994)

  • After years of trying for a child, they felt devastated about being sonless even though they loved their daughters.

  • In their community, a sonless household often faced sympathy and support from others who understood their situation.

Surface Forms

sonless positive

Morphology

sonless = son (transparent) = son + less

Productive and regular negative adjective formation: 'son' + '-less' clearly means 'without a son'.

Etymology

Sonless is made of son and the ending -less, where son means 'male child' and -less means 'without', like in careless. So, sonless means 'without a son'.