The kanji 孫 generally means "grandchild," referring to the child of one's son or daughter. It represents the next generation after one's own children. It can also figuratively refer to descendants in general.

・On-yomi (音読み): ソン (son) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): まご (mago)

⚫︎ 孫孫 Translation: Grandchild ⚫︎ お孫孫さん Translation: Grandchild (polite) ⚫︎ ひ孫孫 Translation: Great-grandchild

The kanji 孫 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side is the radical 子 (こ/ko), meaning "child." The right side is 糸 (いと/ito), which originally depicted silk thread. The sound of 糸 also acted as the phonetic component, indicating the pronunciation. The character was created to represent the concept of a child's child, thus, a grandchild, with the "child" radical emphasizing the familial connection and the phonetic component influencing the sound.