grandparent

Etymology

It is formed from English grand- + parent,^[2][3][4][5] on the model of grandfather and grandmother.^[6] The prefix grand- goes back to the genealogical use of Old French grand-, first seen around 1200 in the Anglo-Norman word for a grandmother,^[3] and parent is from Old French parent and Latin parēns (“father or mother”), a noun use of the present participle of pariō (“to bring forth”).^[3] The OED compares the plural French grands-parents, recorded in French for the relatives of the generation before one's parents in 1798 and for grandparents in 1868.^[2] The verb is a conversion of the noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A parent of one's father or mother: 1574, in G. Fenton's translation of J. Talpin's Forme of Christian Pollicie.^[2] The OED's revision of 2015 moved the date far back: the 1989 edition began with 1830,^[7] Etymonline dates the word to 1802,^[3] Random House to 1820–1830,^[5] the Shorter Oxford to the mid-19th century,^[4] and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1632.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The noun has kept its single meaning, a grandmother or grandfather.^[2][8] Its derivatives came later: grandparentage, the state of being a grandparent or of descent from grandparents, in the late 19th century, and grandparental in the early 20th.^[4][7] The verb appeared in 1961, in the Washington Post, meaning to be a grandparent to someone or to act as one.^[2] From 1974, chiefly in North America, it was also used of exempting someone or something from new rules or regulations because of a privilege or condition that existed before them.^[2]

Timeline

• 1574 – a parent's parent.^[2] Etymonline dates the noun to 1802, and the 1989 edition of the OED to 1830.^[3][7]
• 1961 – verb, to be or act as a grandparent to.^[2]
• 1974 – verb, chiefly North American, to exempt from new regulations because of an earlier privilege.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The father or mother of one's father or mother; a grandfather or grandmother.^[9][8][2]

Verb

1. To be a grandparent to someone, or to act as one.^[2]
2. (chiefly North American) To exempt a person or thing from new regulations because of a right or condition that existed before them.^[2]

Word family

• grandparental
• grandparenthood
• grandparenting
• great-grandparent

Related words

• grandfather
• grandmother

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins