granddaughter

Etymology

It is formed from English grand- + daughter.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier grandson, recorded from 1573,^[2] and Klein takes it as made by analogy with grandmother.^[6] The prefix is a special use of the adjective grand in family terms,^[3] first attested about 1200 in Anglo-Norman graund dame (“grandmother”),^[3] after a similar use in French,^[2][3] which Etymonline suggests may be modelled on Latin avunculus magnus (“great uncle”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A daughter of one's son or daughter: 1608, in H. Fitzsimon.^[2] Etymonline, which lists the word as grand-daughter, says the 1610s,^[3] Merriam-Webster 1611,^[7] and Dictionary.com 1605–15.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In 1856 it was applied to the female descendants of animals, especially horses.^[2] Two further uses followed: in nuclear physics, from 1941, a granddaughter is the product of a daughter element or isotope,^[2] and since 1968 it has been short for a granddaughter clock,^[2] a small grandfather clock.^[4]

Timeline

• 1608 – a daughter of one's son or daughter.^[2]
• 1856 – of animals, especially horses.^[2]
• 1941 – in nuclear physics, a daughter of a daughter element.^[2]
• 1968 – short for granddaughter clock.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The daughter of one's son or daughter: Her granddaughter visits every summer.^[8][7][9]
2. The female offspring of an animal's offspring, especially of a horse.^[2]
3. (nuclear physics) A daughter of a daughter element, nucleus or isotope.^[2]
4. Short for granddaughter clock, a small grandfather clock.^[2][4]

Word family

• great-granddaughter

Related words

• grandson
• grandmother
• grand
• daughter

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt