expression, noun
tiger cub
Literal meaning: a baby tiger. Used in contexts about animals or figuratively to refer to something fiercely protected.
動物園で虎の子が生まれた。
A tiger cub was born at the zoo.
彼は虎の子の貯金を崩したくない。
He doesn't want to touch his precious savings.
この指輪は祖母からもらった虎の子だ。
This ring is a treasured heirloom from my grandmother.
宝物 is a general word for 'treasure' or 'prized possession', while 虎の子 emphasizes the protective, guarded nature of the item, often with a nuance of being hard-earned or carefully saved.
Literally 'tiger's child'. The idiomatic sense comes from the image of a mother tiger fiercely protecting her cub, applied to something one guards as a precious possession.