grandchild
Americannoun
-
grandchildren
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grandchild
Explanation
If you have a grandparent, you are a grandchild. You are the grandchild of your mother’s and father’s parents. If you have a grandchild, your son or daughter had a baby. Congratulations. A person becomes a grandparent when their kid has their first baby, and that baby is the grandparent’s grandchild. Boys are often called "grandsons," and girls "granddaughters," but both are also grandchildren. Grandchild uses the family or genealogical sense of the prefix grand-, which first meant "a generation older than," and since Elizabethan times has also meant "a generation younger than."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Putting money into a 529 college savings fund for a grandchild could make higher education attainable for them.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2026
Receiving photos and videos of her newborn grandchild made everything feel "normal".
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
Eventually, the only-child grandchild could inherit 25% while cousins in the largest branch receive just 6.25% each.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
Neighborhood residents Herman Johnson and Laura Lacy told KTLA-TV that Babers is their foster daughter and the baby their grandchild.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Pilar, her first grandchild, writes to her from Brooklyn in a Spanish that is no longer hers.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
“Hopefully, you have 50 years together and your grandchildren call him grandpa, but love is not a replacement for clarity,” said Wing.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026
The church provides clothes and medicine for her eight children and 14 grandchildren.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2026
Her hopes were raised when an image of him was sent through by a woman named Melissa, who claimed to have fed her cat and wanted reward money for her autistic grandchildren.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
Newhan is survived by his wife, Connie; his son, David, and daughter-in-law, Karen; his daughter, Sara, and son-in-law, Mike; five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
In time they had children and grandchildren who also learned to fish and build boats, and their families prospered in Trokorpe.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
