A person is their parent's child always, but past an arbitrary age, it's no longer appropriate to call them a "child".
I'm familiar with the term "Offspring", but that sounds technical, is there a more conversational synonym?
4
-
1Please provide an example sentence where this term would be used.– Mari-Lou AApr 7, 2018 at 6:15
-
2Child is gender neutral, non-technical, and means a son or a daughter of any age. You don't stop being somebody's child when you reach thirty. Although son/daughter seems more dignified for anyone over 50.– Mari-Lou AApr 7, 2018 at 6:19
-
Adult child works in the neutral sense, but the same term is also used in at least a couple of derogatory senses.– LawrenceApr 7, 2018 at 10:46
-
I agree with @Mari-LouA about the gender-specific forms. X & Sons is one formula for family-business names, though X & Daughters is rare.– LawrenceApr 7, 2018 at 10:51
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
The legal term is "issue". This may be more technical than you want, but it is age-invariant and gender-neutral.
-
1As you say, issue is age invariant. OP asks for a word to refer to one’s grown children.– JimApr 7, 2018 at 6:43
-
fair enough. At first read I had thought he/she was not necessarily looking for a conversational term. It is, indeed, what lawyers would use which is both age- and gender-neutral. But in speaking, 'grown children', 'adult children', or 'sons and daughters' seems to be the only real choices. Apr 7, 2018 at 22:34