great-grandfather
Americannoun
Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of great-grandfather
First recorded in 1505–15
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.
See Examples For:
Like her great-grandfather Shrewlock Holmes, Minerva has something of a cerebral streak.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The film's discovery has taken McFarland on another journey -- learning about the life of his great-grandfather William DeLyle Frisbee.
From Barron's ● Apr. 13, 2026
One person who has witnessed NWT's growth first hand is assistant warden Bernard Bishop, who is following in his great-grandfather and father's footsteps.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026
His great-grandfather Thomas started the business in 1889 on the town's Green Street, before later moving to Dockhead Street.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
Kate Barlow had left his great-grandfather to face the hot barren desert.
From "Holes" by Louis Sachar
Mwaba comes from a family of miners - his great-grandfathers and one grandfather worked down the mines and his father above the ground.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2025
We search for clues and craft paragraphs that give a hint to how soldiers and sailors — who could have shared a beer with our fathers, grandfathers or great-grandfathers — lived their short lives.
From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2023
Two of Mr. Kara-Murza’s great-grandfathers were executed as spies and “enemies of the people” during Stalin’s purges, according to Meduza, a Russian news website.
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
One of his great-grandfathers was enslaved before fighting in the Civil War and serving as a minister.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 17, 2022
My family, including two great-grandfathers and a great-great-grandmother who was one hundred and nine years old, traveled from place to place in seven wagons pulled by fourteen horses.
From "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli
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.
