Revised as of 9 April 2021
On this sunny day, I’ll be a son of a gun if I can believe authors can’t tell the difference between son and sun. I will accept that Jesus is the son of God and that he may be the sun around which the Christians revolve, which of course, you could say about how any proud parent would feel about their child. It still doesn’t make them the same.
Word Confusions…
…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.
If you found this post on “Son versus Sun” interesting, consider tweeting it to your friends. Subscribe to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
Son | Sun |
---|---|
Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com; Dictionary.com: sun | |
|
— |
Part of Grammar: | |
Noun
Plural: sons |
Abbreviation; Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun and third person present verb: suns |
Boy or man in relation to either or both of his parents
|
Abbreviation: Sunday, a day of the week Noun:
[Poetic/literary] A day or a year [Poetic/literary] Clime
[Poetic/literary] Glory
The sun considered with reference to its position in the sky, its visibility, the season of the year, the time at which or the place where it is seen, etc. Sunshine
A figure or representation of the sun, as a heraldic bearing usually surrounded with rays and marked with the features of a human face Something likened to the sun in brightness, splendor, etc. Verb, intransitive: To be exposed to the rays of the sun Verb, transitive: To put, bring, make, etc., by exposure to the sun |
Examples: | |
C.S. Lewis frequently refers to the sons of Adam in his Chronicles of Narnia.
Andre Agassi is one of Nevada’s most famous sons. Napoleon is a son of the French Revolution. “You’re on private land, son.” This is my son, Joshua. The Laurents have five sons and four daughters. My son graduated from Yale yesterday. |
Abbreviation: Sun. Make a note “Sun. at 9am for breakfast”. Noun: We sat outside in the sun. The rhetoric faded before the sun of reality. The sun of the Plantagenets went down in clouds. After going so many suns without food, I was sleeping. The exposure to the sun faded the fabrics terribly. Sun tea is so easy to make. Verb, intransitive: The kids are planning to sun in the yard. Buzz could see Clare sunning herself on the terrace below. Verb, transitive: Beautiful bodies lying on the beach, sunning their bronzed limbs. |
Derivatives: | |
Adjective: sonless Noun: sonship |
Adjective: sunlike, sunward Adverb: sunward, sunwards |
History of the Word: | |
Old English sunu is of Germanic origin.
Related to the Dutch zoon and the German Sohn, from an Indo-European root shared by the Greek huios. |
Old English sunne is of Germanic origin. Related to the Dutch zon and the German Sonne, from an Indo-European root shared by the Greek hēlios and the Latin sol. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Pinterest Photo Credits
Graduation 08, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/2462900232/f21fb1d640/>, by Beneath_B1ue_Skies is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt, and Actual Sunset is Jessie Eastland’s own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.