VocabauraVOCABAURA

firstborn

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

Most excellent; most distinguished or exalted.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

furstbawrn

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɝstˈbɔɹn

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The first child to be born to a parent or family.

adjective

  1. Born as the first one in a family, flock or the like.

  2. Most excellent; most distinguished or exalted.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The first child to be born to a parent or family.

Used this way, firstborn is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Family/home

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “firstborn”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

First / born

firstborn child

Offspring

firstborn sonfirstborn daughter

Other combinations

firstborn maleegyptian firstborn

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • fast of the firstbornnounCompound term

    A minor fast day on Nissan 14 that is observed only by firstborn males.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: first child to be born to a parent

eldest

adjective

Sense: born as the first one in a family

first

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “firstborn” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.