sonny

/ˈsʌni//ˈsəni/

sonny noun: a familiar form of address for a boy.

Noun

sonny (plural sonnies)

(dated) A familiar form of address for a boy.
(colloquial, dated, derogatory) Form of address to a boy or man, to express contempt, warning etc.

Synonyms:

friend, buster, buddy, pal

Sonny

A nickname for a male child.
A male given name from English.
- 'I was christened "Sonny"', the boy said with a protective formality which was clearly of some years' growth. ' It seems to have been all right then. Fashionable, you know. Now, of course, it's ghastly. Everyone calls me Sinclair, even Mother.'1938, Margery Allingham, The Fashion in Shrouds, page 136
- Sonny had had to change his mind about so many things, as his life changed, as the very meaning of his ridiculous name changed - first a hangover from sentimental parents, then a nickname to reassure the crowds at rallies that he was one of them, then an addendum to his full names in a prison...1990, Nadine Gordimer, My Son's Story, page 55
A diminutive of the female given name Sonia.
- Sonia was hired and quickly persuaded everyone to call her “Sonny.” Josie recalls, “For some reason, she did not care for her first name, but I thought it was beautiful. I was surprised that she spelled her nickname 'Sonny' rather than 'Sunny', but I suppose it was because of the letter 'o' in...2009, Del Halterman, Walk-Don't Run - The Story of the Ventures, →ISBN, page 58
- She couldn't believe Irina had said that so openly. Then Sonny gasped before she could stop herself. “What is it?” Irina looked down at herself. “What's the matter?” “Nothing.” Sonny shook her head and took up her notes as if to discuss them.2009, Trish Perry, Sunset Beach, →ISBN, page 135

மோனை

That is one class-A heifer you got there, sonny.
Imagine showing this programme to someone currently in their teens and saying: “There you go, sonny.
“Sonny Carson got more crack houses closed than the entire Police Department,” Mr.

plural	sonnies

From son + -y.

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does sonny mean?: Sonny means a familiar form of address for a boy.
What is sonny in Tamil?: Sonny in Tamil is மோனை. See Sonny meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is sonny?: Sonny can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce sonny?: Sonny is pronounced /ˈsʌni/.
What is the plural of sonny?: The plural of sonny is sonnies.

Adapted from Wiktionary: sonny (page history and authors); Sonny (page history and authors); sonny (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sonny.ogg.

Cite this entry: “sonny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sonny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.