grandchild
Americannoun
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.
Grandchild Susan Eisenhower noted a “great sadness” many in her family remained home due to public health concerns related to the novel coronavirus.
From Washington Times • Sep. 17, 2020
Unsure Grandchild: Before you respond, ask yourself: “What good would it do?”
From Washington Post • Jul. 17, 2019
Q. My Best Friend Is Criticizing My Grandchild: Meg and I have been best friends for more than a decade.
From Slate • Oct. 31, 2011
One of the first articles of furniture to be moved in was a crib for Grandchild Herbert Hoover 3rd, aged 13.
From Time Magazine Archive
Very well; and I shall have a general Collection of all the quiddits from Adam to this time, to be my Grandchild.
From The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher Volume 2 of 10: Introduction to the Elder Brother by Fletcher, John
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.
