Anak Meaning: What Freddie Aguilar’s Song Title Means in English
Anak means “child” in Tagalog (Filipino). It is the word a parent uses for their own son or daughter, and it has no gender: the same word covers both. Used on its own as a title, it reads as a parent speaking to their child — “my child”.
What the song is about
Freddie Aguilar recorded “Anak” in 1977. It is sung from the parents’ side: the love and sacrifice of raising a child, and the heartbreak when that child grows up, leaves and goes astray. Aguilar drew on his own experience as a son who had left home, so the song works as both a parent’s lament and a child’s apology.
It was a finalist at the first Metro Manila Popular Music Festival in 1978 and did not win, yet it became one of the best-known Filipino songs ever written, covered and translated into dozens of languages. Aguilar died in 2025, at 72.
Tagalog family words
| anak | child; son or daughter |
| anak ko | my child |
| mga anak | children |
| anak na lalaki | son |
| anak na babae | daughter |
| magulang | parent, parents |
| nanay / ina | mother (everyday / formal) |
| tatay / ama | father (everyday / formal) |
| apo | grandchild |
| pagmamahal | love, affection |
More Filipino
Another Filipino classic people look up is Dahil Sa Iyo (“Because of You”). To translate your own Tagalog, use the Filipino translator.