grandfather
/ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.24 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A male forefather.
verb
To retain discontinued laws or rules for (an object, individual or organization previously affected by them).
American usage; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Grandfather, Father, and Son. The Father diſſeiſeth the Grandfather and dies, the Son endows the Mother, the Grandfather dies, the Son may enter upon the Mother; for he hath a new Right deſcended to him from the Grandfather, for the Grandfather might have entred upon the Mother, ſo ſhall his Heir."
- "Lineal conſanguinity is that which ſubſists between perſons, of whom one is deſcended in a direct line from the other: as between John Stiles (the propoſitus in the table of conſanguinity) and his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and ſo upwards in the direct aſcending line; or between John Stiles and his ſon, grandſon, great-grandſon, and ſo downwards in the direct deſcending line."
- "One circumſtance […] peculiar to the Germanic empire, is the diſtinction between its mediate and immediate members. In the ſame manner as two objects which we may ſuppose to have relation to each other, are immediately related, when there is no third object intervening, but otherwiſe only mediate. This may be illuſtrated by the example of the connexion between a grandfather and his children, who may be ſaid to be mediately related; while the relation between the parents and children, on the contrary, is immediate; […]"
- "My grandfather’s clock was too large for the shelf.— / So it stood ninety years on the floor; / It was taller by half than the old man himself, / Though it weighed not a pennyweight more. / It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born, / And was always his treasure and pride; / But it stopp’d short—never to go again— / When the old man died."
- "Grandfather was friendly, formal, and strict with the children in his large family, and quite displeased with the lively goings-on of the grandchildren. […] He only joked with me once, when I was four, and never again. Our festive Sunday dinner was crowned by a pudding. Perhaps I looked too greedy—Grandfather threatened to throw the pudding out of the window. It is reported that I answered, "Then I'll jump out of the window and gobble it up all by myself.""
- "Those numbers take on added significance when he thinks about his relationship with his grandfather, who just turned 90 this year. […] What happens then is kids are “deprived of grandmothers (maybe increasingly grandfathers, too) who are comfortable in their own skin, aging gracefully and being a good role model to kids, showing that growing old is not the worst thing that can happen to a woman.”"
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English grandfadre, graundfadir, graunfadir, grauntfader, and other forms, from graunt (“big, large; great, important”) + fā̆der (“male parent, father; remoter male ancestor”), probably modelled after Middle French grandpere, grant pere (“male parent; remoter male ancestor”) (whence French grand-père); the English word is analysable as grand- + father. Superseded earlier eldfather, elderfather. The verb is derived from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/
- British English: /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/
Usage
- Transitive verb
- American usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
Antonyms
grandmother
grandson
abuela
baba
babcia
babulya /babulia (chiefly in Eastern European (especially Russian) contexts)
babushka
babusia
babusya /babusia
beldame
bubbe
eldermother