granddad
Americannoun
Usage
What does granddad mean? Granddad is an informal word for grandfather—the father of a person’s parent. When a father’s child has their own children, that father becomes a granddad. Granddad should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Granddad that I miss him. But granddad does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to him, as in Please tell my granddad that I miss him. Example: It doesn’t matter what you call your granddad, as long as you call him.
Etymology
Origin of granddad
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.
The rain pours down so often that you can’t help but snort when the film cuts to Whitford’s granddad angrily watering his lawn.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2026
Student Ella told the BBC that losing her granddad during Covid had made her value spending more time with her grandma.
From BBC • Sep. 14, 2025
The new album’s closer, “Remember My Name,” is a brass-band love song “from the perspective of my granddad to my grandmother when she had dementia and he was looking after her,” the singer said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2025
The birth of his first child has apparently given Shohei Ohtani granddad strength.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2025
“No, but maybe we could ask one of the librarians. Or maybe my granddad knows.”
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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.
