grandfather English · revision 6551

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound, calque|attested=1424|origins=frm grand-père}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/; /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/, /ˈɡɹændˌfɑːðə/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|en|grand-|father]], probably formed on the model of [[frm|grand-père]] (Middle French grant pere).^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) It replaced [[grandsire]] and Old English [[m|ang|ealdefæder]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The father of one's father or mother: 1424 in the OED,^(OED 1989) the early 15th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A male ancestor or forefather is from 1613.^(OED 1989) The ''grandfather clause'' (1899) at first referred to exemptions from voting restrictions in the post-Reconstruction American South for men whose forebears had voted before 1867, which let poor and illiterate whites keep the vote;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) the verb, to exempt under such a clause, is from 1953 in MWU.^(MWU 2024) The ''grandfather clock'' (1894) is from the song ''My Grandfather's Clock'' (1876); such clocks had been called tall case or eight-day clocks.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In Sussex and Hampshire a grandfather was a daddy-longlegs.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1424 – father of a parent.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1613 – a forefather.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1894 – grandfather clock.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1899 – grandfather clause.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The father of one's father or mother.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A male [[ancestor]]; a forefather.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A founder or originator: ''the grandfather of jazz''.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(US)'' To exempt someone from a new rule because of an existing situation.^(MWU 2024)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[grandfatherly]]

+ * [[great-grandfather]]

+ * [[grandfather clause]]

+ * [[grandfather clock]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[grandmother]]

+ * [[grandsire]]

+ * [[grandpa]]

+ * [[grand]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}