grandparent

American  

[gran-pair-uhnt, -par-, grand-] / ˈgrænˌpɛər ənt, -ˌpær-, ˈgrænd- /

noun

• grandparents
  plural

1. a parent of a parent.

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grandparent British  

/ ˈɡrænˌpɛərənt, ˈɡrænd- /

noun

1. the father or mother of either of one's parents

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Usage

What does grandparent mean? A grandparent is the parent of a person’s parent. When a parent’s child has children, that parent becomes a grandparent. Grandmothers and grandfathers are grandparents. A parent of a grandparent is called a great-grandparent. In your family tree, you have four grandparents and eight great-grandparents. Most people refer to their grandparents with titles like grandma and grandpa. Example: It doesn’t matter what you call your grandparents, as long as you call them.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• grandparenting
  noun
• grandparental
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• grandparents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of grandparent

First recorded in 1820–30; grand- + parent

Explanation

A grandparent is your parent's parent. Your dad's mother is your grandparent, and so is your mom's father. If you're lucky enough to have living grandparents, then that's pretty grand. Most people have a special name for each of their grandparents, whether it's "Grandma," "Grandpa Bob," or "Nana." Others never have the chance to meet their grandparents, but everyone has them. The word grandparent, first used at the start of the nineteenth century, uses grand in its sense of "a generation older than." Your grandparents are a generation older than your parents.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grandparent grandparents

Denied, he settles for iced tea, but encourages me to eat with the geniality and concern of a grandparent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

"Some people think that because a parent or grandparent had osteoarthritis, they will develop it too," Cheng said.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

And the good news is that the grandparent role comes in many forms today and no longer has to rely on a genetic link.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

One younger person asked for help handling the finances of his grandparent, which fell to him because the generation above him doesn’t get along and couldn’t come to a consensus on any financial matters.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

They were warm and I loved them the way any grandchild loves a grandparent.

From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride

“My grandparents were murdered in concentration camps. And to see how the world, again, is swinging that direction, where there are too many people in favor of a totalitarian government, is crazy,” Eliot said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

He'd been to the festival before and was well-acquainted with its cultural significance, remembering his grandparents making the journey decades earlier for the dancing.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

My four Holocaust-survivor grandparents achieved the American dream in part by making the haters irrelevant.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

“Now there’s alternatives that potentially weren’t around back when my parents and my grandparents were around. People are starting to understand that buying a house isn’t the only way to build wealth.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

He had outlived all of my biological grandparents, and he had owned the house across the street from my mom since she was a baby.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen