prodigal son

English

Etymology

With reference to Luke 15:11–32.

Noun

prodigal son (plural prodigal sons)

1. Someone who returns home from travelling or exile or who is welcomed back after disgrace, especially having repented of former extravagant or immoral behaviour.
   • 2010, “Enter Dog of Pavlov”, performed by Soilwork:

     Here I am, the prodigal son
     The self proclaimed deprived
     Spending hours of fighting the peace
     When I should lay it on the line

   • 2024 August 28, Raven Smith, “Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher, and the Art of the Public Feud”, in Vogue‎^[1]:

     Don’t look back in anger—Oasis, the prodigal sons of Brit-pop, is returning. After years of public feuding and subtweets and alleged battery with a cricket bat, the Gallagher brothers—Liam and Noel, obvs—are working it out on the remix, with a rash of 2025 summer dates announced on their website.

2. A marine fish, the cobia (Rachycentron canadum).

Translations

one who returns

• Catalan: fill pròdig
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 浪子 (long⁶ zi²)

  Mandarin: 浪子 (zh) (làngzǐ)

• Danish: fortabte søn
• Dutch: verloren zoon m
• Finnish: tuhlaajapoika
• French: fils prodigue m
• Georgian: გზასაცდენილი შვილი (gzasacdenili švili), გზასაცდენილი ძე (gzasacdenili ʒe), უძღები ძე (uʒɣebi ʒe), უძღები შვილი (uʒɣebi švili), ძე შეცდომილი (ʒe šecdomili)
• German: verlorener Sohn m, Zurückkehrer m, Heimkehrer (de) m
• Greek: άσωτος υιός (el) m (ásotos yiós)
• Hungarian: tékozló fiú (hu)
• Irish: an mac díobhlásach m, an millteán mic m
• Italian: figliol prodigo, figlio prodigo
• Japanese: 放蕩息子 (hōtō musuko)
• Latvian: izšķērdīgais dēls m
• Polish: syn marnotrawny (pl) m
• Portuguese: filho pródigo (pt) m
• Russian: блу́дный сын (ru) m (blúdnyj syn)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: изгубљени син m

  Roman: izgubljeni sin m

• Spanish: hijo pródigo
• Tagalog: alibughang anak
• Welsh: mab afradlon m

cobia — see cobia

See also

• kill the fatted calf

References

• prodigal son on Wikipedia.Wikipedia