Where does “sonny” come from?
Sonny derives from English son plus the Middle English diminutive suffix -y, from Middle French -ie, from Latin -ia, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -kos, a suffix forming diminutives and agent nouns.
sonny (English): a familiar form of address for a boy; form of...
Definitions
- a familiar form of address for a boy; form of...
Ancestry of “sonny”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | Sơn | — |
| 2 | Middle English | sone | son; soon; Alternative form of sonne |
| 3 | Old English | sōna | immediately, at once |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | sān(ō) | immediately |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | sēna | — |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | *sa | — |
| 7 | Proto-Austronesian | *əsa | — |
| 8 | Proto-Oceanic | *isa | — |
Words derived from “sonny”