nanny
noun
a person, usually with special training, employed to care for children in a household.
nanny
1 American
[nan-ee]
/ ˈnæn i /
noun
-
nannies
plural
Nanny
2
American
[nan-ee]
/ ˈnæn i /
noun
nanny
British
/ ˈnænɪ /
noun
-
a nurse or nursemaid for children
-
-
any person or thing regarded as treating people like children, esp by being patronizing or overprotective
-
( as modifier )
the nanny state
-
-
a child's word for grandmother
verb
-
(intr) to nurse or look after someone else's children
-
(tr) to be overprotective towards
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of nanny
1785–95; nursery word; compare Welsh nain grandmother, Greek nánna aunt, Russian nyánya nursemaid
Explanation
A nanny is a full-time babysitter, someone whose job is taking care of a family's children. If you're a lucky kid, your nanny will be like Mary Poppins or Maria from "A Sound of Music." Being a nanny goes beyond hourly childcare — a nanny is usually the person who spends the most time with a baby or child. A nanny might feed, bathe, play with, and otherwise care for a toddler, or drive an older child to ballet lessons. Most nannies work in the child's home, sometimes even living there. A completely different definition of nanny is "female goat." The word's origin is probably as a nickname for Ann, a generic woman's name, though it's also traditionally used for "close female adult," such as an aunt.
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:
Shortly after launch, their nanny at a nearby Airbnb shared a video of their two kids, ages 5 and 1, watching, too.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Hindle, who previously worked as a nanny and nursery nurse, now hopes to work in a school and said it was all "part of a journey".
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Wealth Management, said he and his wife have experienced the puzzle play of childcare, including using daycare, a part-time nanny, help from family members and flexible work schedules.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
She has never clipped her children’s toenails—too anxious for that, she said, so the nanny handles it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
She would have insisted on calling Josie’s parents or nanny or someone to make sure that Josie was fine.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The women taking Hidalgo’s course as part of We Rise Nanny Training in Brooklyn have no intention of being defenseless.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2024
At neighbouring Long Nanny, hundreds of Arctic terns have also died, along with 40% of their chicks.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2023
I created "The Nanny," and I actually created that episode of the strike.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2023
But she achieved fame as the creator and star of The Nanny, a US sitcom in which she portrayed Jewish fashionista Fran Fine, who becomes a nanny to a rich British family.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2023
The Nanny by that time was en route back to Liverpool, full of sugar and tobacco.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
“Whether they’re farmworkers or construction workers, hotel workers, restaurant workers, nannies who take care of children, these are working people, and yet they are being treated as if they were some sort of horrible criminals.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
While healing from their losses, they hustled, working as caregivers, nannies, Uber drivers and house cleaners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Industry professionals say sending agents or nannies to collect surrogate-born children is increasingly common.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Once procured, the infants were taken to a house in Pontianak where they were taken care of by hired nannies.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
She mimicked the voice of one of the nannies that took care of her after her father died.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
