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

It can happen — for example, if you inherit from a sibling who never married or had children — but it’s far less common than inheriting from a parent or grandparent.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026

Nana, my only living grandparent, is an immigrant from Mexico.

From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2026

Elderly people are particularly vulnerable, with experts warning of rising cases of "grandparent scams."

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said he is “personally troubled by the idea that we need to deport someone because of who their grandparent is.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

Usually when groups of adults want to speak to me it’s because a grandparent has died or I’ve let Feather pee on somebody’s flower bed.

From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle

He still bought a portable air conditioning unit in spring as a precaution, and is concerned about his grandparents and his father living further south in Hertfordshire.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

The parents and grandparents on her side of the family have tended to live longer than the parents and grandparents on my side of the family.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

Generation Z takes fewer risks than previous generations, but we aren’t more prudent than our parents or grandparents were at our age.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

They had grandparents for the kids to stay with, so they did not go—as tens of thousands do each year—into state custody, with the many attendant traumas that entails.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

He was going to have two parents who cared and grandparents who doted on him and spend summers in a house on the shore.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny