gran
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does gran mean? Gran is an informal word for grandmother—the mother of a person’s parent. The word granny is used in the same way. A similar word for a grandfather is gramps. Gran should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Gran that I miss her. But gran does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to her, as in Please tell my gran that I miss her. Example: It doesn’t matter what you call your gran, as long as you call her.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gran
First recorded in 1860–65; by shortening
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:
"I was expelled and taken away from all my friends, and it made me really sad – but my gran used to say, 'Keep on keeping on, Thom', and it stuck with me."
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2025
Hannah, who is just a year older than her late gran was when she died, is receiving her treatment through the NHS.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2025
When my mother was nine years old, she told my gran that she didn’t want to live with her anymore.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
My gran called me “Springbok,” after the second-fastest land mammal on earth, the deer that the cheetah hunts.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
Finally, he said, “Seeing is believing, I guess. Well, your gran was stronger than even I knew.”
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
Call the Midwife often has that feel-good Sunday evening tone to it, drawing in mums and dads, along with grans and granddads.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2013
Similar traditions are associated with the marriage of Arthur and Guinevere, and of Pepin and Berte aus grans pies, the parents of Charlemagne.
From Four Arthurian Romances by Comfort, William Wistar
His selections from manuscripts, his Romancero fran�ais, his editions of Garin le Loherain and Berte aus grans pi�s, and his Romans de la table ronde may especially be mentioned.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various
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.
