second son
Born after firstborn
A second son is a family's second-born male child.
Historically, the term carried significant weight in inheritance systems where the firstborn son received titles and estates, leaving second sons to seek fortune through military service, the church, or colonial ventures.
The phrase still evokes someone who must make their own way: As a second son, he knew the family business would never be his.
- youngerLess old comparatively
- younger brotherMale sibling born later
- birth orderSequence among siblings
- line of successionSequence of potential heirs
- siblingBrother or sister
brother · family dynamics · inheritance · primogeniture · rivalry · shadow · prince · royal family · throne · succession · lineage · dynasty · noble house · birthright · Edmund · neglected · resentment · black sheep
- princescrown prince, prince consort, heir apparent, dauphin, princeling
- cadencylabel, crescent, mullet, annulet, fleur-de-lis
- royal successionthrone, succession, line of succession, order of succession, succession line
- heirsheir apparent, heir presumptive, heiress, heirs, inheritor
- Regency eraseason, patronesses, patroness, Prince Regent, Jane Austen
second sonfirstborn son
Family's earliest male child
eldest son · heir apparent · firstborn · eldest child · youngest son
second sonheir
One who receives legacy
heir apparent · crown prince · successor · inheritor · spare
second, son, secondly, seconds, seconded, seconding, secondary, sons, sonship