grandma

[gran-mah, -maw, grand-, gram-, gram-muh]

noun

Informal.

1. grandmother.

grandma

/ ˈɡrænˌmɑː, ˈɡrænd-, ˈɡrænməˌmɑː, ˈɡrænd-, ˈɡræm- /

noun

1. informal words for grandmother

Word History and Origins

Origin of grandma¹

First recorded in 1865–70; grand- + ma

Example Sentences

Like tuna casseroles and they’re very into hearty, grandma type food.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“My grandparents are very shy people, and when my grandma saw the video, she was like, ‘Oh, Ravyn, baby …’”

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We must start thinking about who will take care of grandma and grandpa.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Sometimes when her kids were playing outside and her mom was coming back from the store, they’d jump in her car to go play at grandma’s house.

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Gold ladder in hand, Max, who has 8.5 million followers on TikTok, dedicated his award to his grandma in Ukraine who "has no electricity to follow along".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• ancestor 
• granny 
• matriarch 

When To Use

What does grandma mean?

Grandma is an informal word for grandmother—the mother of a person’s parent.When a mother’s child has their own children, that mother becomes a grandma. The word ma is an informal way to say mother.Grandma is often combined with a name, especially when a person has two grandmothers that they call Grandma, as in Grandma Marg and Grandma Marie. Should grandma be capitalized?Grandma should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Grandma that I miss her. But grandma does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to her, as in Please tell my grandma that I miss her. Example: It doesn’t matter what you call your grandma, as long as you call her.