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:
“My parents won’t be at my wedding, they won’t get to hold their future grandchild, and they won’t get to see me have the successful career I’m still seeking,” Jake wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
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
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
Esther’s mother stood in silence beside the deep hole, leaning on her husband, who held their grandchild in his arms.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
LeRoy is survived by his wife, his five daughters and 10 grandchildren.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Years later, when grandchildren are in the mix, that may not be how you want your assets to be passed down.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
It runs through every ring that follows—birthdays, weddings, the births of grandchildren, holidays and ordinary family dinners where someone is forever missing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Thomas said the possibility of having to leave her son, grandchildren, friends and husband's grave has become too much to bear.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Fenoglio's grandchildren had disappeared into the cupboard again.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
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.
