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:
If my daughter had children and refused to let me see them, I’d handwrite a letter to each grandchild every birthday and/or holiday.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
"I want to know how it happens that information about a grandmother or great-grandmother's environment can affect the phenotype of her grandchild or great-grandchild," she explains.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026
Jones was reported missing July 7 after she didn’t pick up her grandchild and wasn’t responding to phone calls, according to the release.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
The investigators working with the BBC discovered that Temerbek studied Ukrainian language at university and has a wife, daughter and son in their 20s, and grandchild.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
You can see in that picture how I really was the first child, first grandchild, first niece.
From "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio
Some fantasize about running around with their grandchildren.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Based on the age of first-child births, the median age of grandmotherhood rose from 44 in 1960 to 57 in 2024, “cutting the healthy years with grandchildren from 28 to 15.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
"Because of the people who've gone to fight and the families left behind with sons, husbands, children and grandchildren there. But these elections can't influence what will happen."
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
He is survived by three children, five grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
“My grandchildren and I are here alone,” she said first.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
