Sonny

How to spell sonny

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sonny

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sonny mean?

1. nounAn informal, often affectionate or patronising way of addressing a boy or a younger man.

Sonny in a sentence

• The old foreman clapped him on the shoulder and called him sonny.

• Listen here, sonny, you cannot park your van across the driveway.

Where does sonny come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grew out of the ordinary noun 'son', which comes from the Old English sunu, meaning a male child, a root shared right across the Germanic languages and ultimately traceable to an ancient form meaning 'to give birth'. By the early 1800s English speakers had added the affectionate diminutive ending '-y' (here doubled to '-ny' so the short vowel of 'son' stays short) to create a warm, informal way of addressing a boy or a younger man. The form sits alongside other coined pet names of the same period and is closely tied to the friendly nickname Sonny. Note that the doubled 'n' is what keeps the pronunciation as 'sun-ee' rather than letting the vowel drift; this also makes it a perfect sound-twin of 'sunny', the weather word, which is the main spelling trap. The two words are unrelated in origin: 'sunny' descends from 'sun', while 'sonny' descends from 'son'.

How the word is built

• son (from Old English sunu: male child)
• -ny (familiar/diminutive ending)

Words that sound like sonny

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• sunny: Full of or brightened by sunshine; cheerful and bright.