Etymologically
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offspring

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɒfspɹɪŋ/[1]
  • US: /ˈɔfspɹɪŋ/, /ˈɑfspɹɪŋ/[1]

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.

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)