great-grandfather

[greyt-gran-fah-ther, -grand-]

noun

1. a grandfather of one's father or mother.

Word History and Origins

Origin of great-grandfather¹

First recorded in 1505–15

Example Sentences

Christian pop star Amy Grant and her family will regain control of the downtown Nashville church founded by her great-grandfather, according to a settlement approved by a Tennessee state court on Wednesday.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Grant said she had spoken with groups and philanthropists about the possibility of setting up a large center to help the homeless in downtown Nashville, just as the Central Church of Christ did when her great-grandfather founded it a century ago.

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Swapan Dutta, a fourth-generation clock repairer, traces his lineage back to a great-grandfather who worked as a clock technician for the British-era firm Cooke and Kelvey.

Read more on BBC

Chavez’s great-grandfather first joined the union in the 1940s and his family has worked at the ports ever since.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“It’s time to leave this strange community, if you can call it a community,” Pastor said in a statement after the City Council this month delayed taking any action on the development, which he named the JB Pastor project in honor of his great-grandfather.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

When To Use

What does great-grandfather mean?

A great-grandfather is the father of a person’s grandparent (the grandfather of a person’s parent).When a father’s child has their own children, that father becomes a grandfather. When those children have their own children, he becomes a great-grandfather.Should great-grandfather be capitalized?Great-grandfather should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Great-grandfather that I miss him. But great-grandfather does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to him, as in Please tell my great-grandfather that I miss him. Example: My kids were lucky enough to get to know three of their great-grandfathers.