孫子|まごこmagoko[2]nakadaka (mid-high)

1. nounchildren and grandchildren; posterity; descendants

• Synonym子孫しそんNeutralThe most general term for descendants, at home in both speech and writing, as in 「子孫に伝える」; 「孫子」 itself now survives mostly in set phrases like 「孫子の代まで」.
• Related末裔まつえいWrittenWritten; stresses bloodline: a distant descendant, as in 「源氏の末裔」.
• Related末々すえずえWrittenWritten and rather old-fashioned: can mean the distant future as well as descendants, and sometimes the common people.
• Related児孫じそんWrittenWritten and uncommon: children and grandchildren, as in the saying 「児孫のために美田を買わず」.
• Related後昆こうこんFormalFormal and very rare, with a classical elegance: posterity, later generations.
• Related後胤こういんFormalFormal and very rare, more archaic than 「孫子」: descendants or posterity in general.
• Related後裔こうえいWrittenWritten; stresses the family line: one's descendants, as in 「後裔を称する」.
• Related末流ばつりゅうWrittenWritten and little used: late-line descendants; also the downstream stretch of a river.
• Related後葉こうようWrittenWritten: future generations or descendants; in anatomy it also names the posterior pituitary.
• Related苗裔びょうえいFormalFormal and very rare, with a classical-literary flavor: a distant descendant.
• Related末孫まっそんWrittenWritten and little used: distant descendants, close in sense to 「末裔」.
• Related胤裔いんえいFormalFormal and very rare: those who carry on the bloodline, heirs and descendants.
• Antonym祖父母そふぼNeutralGrandparents, the generation above — the opposite of the descendants that 「孫子」 refers to.

For descendants in general, say 「子孫」. 「孫子」 itself means one's children and grandchildren, and now survives mostly in phrases like 「孫子の代まで語り継ぐ」. For distant descendants, 「末裔」 and 「後裔」 are the usual written choices; the other terms here are rare literary or formal words. Grandparents are 「祖父母」.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 孫まごと子こ。孫まごまたは子こ。
2. 後世こうせいの子孫しそん。