1
: of, relating to, or befitting a son or daughter
filial obedience
filial love
2
: having or assuming the relation of a child or offspring
The new village has a filial relationship with the original settlement.
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Filial Has Familial Origins
Filial comes from Latin filius, meaning "son," and filia, "daughter"; in English, it applies to any gender. The word has long carried the dutiful sense "owed to a parent by a child," as found in such phrases as "filial respect" and "filial piety." These days it can also be used more generally for any emotion or behavior of a child to a parent.
Examples of filial in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Tensions arise when a struggling, idealistic poet meets his girlfriend’s family at their idyllic, hillside countryside home in Hong Sang-soo’s latest feature — a quietly profound meditation on the complexities of filial love and familial strife.
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Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 30 Sep. 2025
Caroline, a thorny depiction of filial love in all its iterations, centers on Maddie (Moretz), a heavily tattooed young single mother raising her trans daughter, Caroline (River Lipe-Smith).
—Alex Jhamb Burns, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2025
Julia, who studied music and theater at Harvard, is currently developing a musical based on the Korean folktale of Simcheong, a filial daughter who sacrifices herself for her blind father.
—Joan MacDonald, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2025
Dazzled by the size of the home and the beauty of its rural environs, Seoul-dweller Donghwa bonds with the family, especially the benevolent patriarch, for whom family, tradition, and filial devotion seem paramount.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2025
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Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 30 Sep. 2025
Caroline, a thorny depiction of filial love in all its iterations, centers on Maddie (Moretz), a heavily tattooed young single mother raising her trans daughter, Caroline (River Lipe-Smith).
—Alex Jhamb Burns, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2025
Julia, who studied music and theater at Harvard, is currently developing a musical based on the Korean folktale of Simcheong, a filial daughter who sacrifices herself for her blind father.
—Joan MacDonald, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2025
Dazzled by the size of the home and the beauty of its rural environs, Seoul-dweller Donghwa bonds with the family, especially the benevolent patriarch, for whom family, tradition, and filial devotion seem paramount.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for filial
Cite this Entry
“Filial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/filial. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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