‘昆孙’ (kūn sūn) means ‘great-grandson’ — the son of one’s grandson. It is a formal, literary kinship term rarely used in everyday spoken Mandarin; native speakers typically say ‘曾孙’ (zēng sūn) instead. The character ‘昆’ here does not carry its common meaning of ‘elder brother’ or ‘insect’ but functions as an archaic or variant form for ‘曾’ in certain classical or regional contexts. However, ‘昆孙’ is not standard modern usage and appears mainly in historical texts, genealogical records, or dialectal speech — it is not taught in standard textbooks.

This term reflects the precision of Chinese kinship terminology, where generational distance is marked explicitly. While ‘孙’ (sūn) means ‘grandson’, adding ‘昆’ signals an additional generation removed. Learners should be aware that using ‘昆孙’ in conversation may cause confusion, as most people expect ‘曾孙’. Its presence in dictionaries often reflects historical or variant orthography rather than active contemporary usage.