Offspring

Offspring
A frog in frogspawn.

In biology, offspring is the product of reproduction, of a new organism produced by one or more parents.

Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way. This can refer to a set of simultaneous offspring, such as the chicks hatched from one clutch of eggs, or to all the offspring, as with the honeybee.

Human offspring (descendants) are referred to as children (without reference to age, thus one can refer to a parent's "minor children" or "adult children"); male children are sons and female children are daughters.[citation needed] See kinship and descent. Offspring can occur after mating (sexual intercourse).

See also


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Synonyms:

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  • offspring — offspring, young, progeny, issue, descendant, posterity are comparable when they mean those who follow in direct parental line. Offspring applies to those who are by birth immediately related to a parent; the term does not necessarily apply to… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • offspring — I noun brood, cadet, child, children, descendants, family, heir, issue, lineage, next generation, offshoots, posterity, progenies, progeny, proles, scion, spawn, stirps, successor, younger generation associated concepts: illegitimate offspring,… …   Law dictionary

  • offspring — meaning ‘a person s or animal s child or young’ has the same form in the plural: • A person is a Jew if he or she is the offspring of a Jewish mother or has been converted to the Jewish faith J. R. Baker, 1974 • So these offspring shared in the… …   Modern English usage

  • Offspring — Off spring , n. sing. & pl. [Off + spring.] [1913 Webster] 1. The act of production; generation. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] 2. That which is produced; a child or children; a descendant or descendants, however remote from the stock. [1913 Webster] To… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • offspring — [ôf′spriŋ΄] n. pl. offspring or offsprings [ME ofspring < OE: see OFF1 & SPRING] 1. a child or animal as related to its parent 2. a descendant or descendants collectively; progeny 3. a product, outcome, or result …   English World dictionary

  • offspring — offspring. = progeny (см.). (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • offspring — offspring. См. потомство. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • offspring — (n.) O.E. ofspring children or young collectively, descendants, lit. those who spring off (someone,) from off + springan to spring (see SPRING (Cf. spring) (v.)). The figurative sense is first recorded c.1600 …   Etymology dictionary

  • offspring — [n] child, children baby, bambino*, brood, chip off old block*, cub, descendant, family, generation, heir, heredity, issue, kid*, lineage, offshoot, posterity, produce, progeniture, progeny, pup*, scion, seed, spawn, succession, successor, young; …   New thesaurus

  • offspring — ► NOUN (pl. same) ▪ a person s child or children, or the young of an animal …   English terms dictionary

  • Offspring — The Offspring Cet article a pour sujet le groupe de punk rock. Pour une définition du mot « offspring », voir l’article offspring du Wiktionnaire. The Offspring …   Wikipédia en Français

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