offspring

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ofspring, inherited from Old English ofspring (“offspring, descendants, posterity”),^[1][2][3][4] a compound formed with of (“off, away from”) and springan (“to spring”),^[5][6][7][8] so literally "those who spring off (someone)".^[5][8] The OED analyses it as off and spring.^[9] Etymonline and Bosworth-Toller compare Old Norse afspringr.^[5][3] Etymonline notes the Middle English forms oxspring and ospring.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The children or descendants of a person or couple, collectively: Old English, in an agreement between Abbot Wulfric and Ealdred.^[9] Barnhart dates the Old English word to about 949,^[8] and in Old English it translated Latin stirps and progenies.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also meant family, stock or lineage (before 1300 to 1613), descent from an ancestor (1500–1715), a generation (1400–1587) and a source or spring (1500–1604); all of these are obsolete.^[9][10] As a count noun for a single child it is recorded from 1548,^[9] and Barnhart dates singular use to 1712.^[8] The figurative sense, that which is produced by something, is recorded from 1573 in the OED;^[9] Etymonline dates it to about 1600.^[5] Since 1596 it has also been used of a person seen as the child of a homeland.^[9] The usual plural is offspring, but offsprings also occurs.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 949 – children or young collectively, descendants.^[8]
• ?a1300 – family, stock, lineage (obsolete).^[9]
• 1548 – a single child or descendant.^[9]
• 1573 – figuratively, a product or result.^[9]
• 1596 – a person as the product of their homeland.^[9]
• 1712 – singular use, Barnhart's date.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The child or children of a person, or the young of an animal or plant; progeny: The birds raise their offspring in burrows.
2. Something that comes into being as a result of something else; a product or outcome.

Related words

• off
• spring
• offshoot
• progeny
• issue

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)