This word is from Middle English by way of the Old French “ciun,” meaning “shoot, twig.” The oldest and most common usage is from botany, referring to a young sprout or shoot of a plant, usually used for grafting or rooting. If you wanted to share a cutting of your rosebush with a neighbor, you would gift them a scion of the plant. Another usage of the word relates to nobility: An heir of a prominent family is a scion. The word might still be used today to refer to an especially prestigious family and its children, but it was most common a few hundred years ago.