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:
Seven years after Lyon’s death, the account — now worth approximately $1.7 million — has still not reached a single grandchild.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
He feared that he might lose another son — or a grandchild — in the process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
They could make separate gifts of the same size to the child’s spouse and to each grandchild.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 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 old woman quickly wrapped one arm around the Iron Rod, clasping her grandchild protectively with the other.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
I have no grandchildren and I am not married.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
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
"If I need to move furniture at home, I can do that, I can toss my grandchildren in the air, I can play games with them," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Thus great sorrows for their children and grandchildren came upon Cadmus and Harmonia in old age after great prosperity.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
