Grandmother
/ˈɡrændˌmʌðər/noun
The mother of one’s parent.
Did you know?The first element, grand-, comes through Old French from Latin grandis, meaning “large” or “full-grown,” so the word originally carried the sense of a “great/elder mother” rather than a mystical title.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gʰreh₁-
“to grow, become green, flourish”
Latin
Latin
grandis
“large, full-grown, great”
Old French
Old French
grant
“large, great”
Middle English
English
grandame
“a grandmother; an old woman”
Modern English
English
grandmother
“the mother of one’s parent”