great-grandmother

American  

[greyt-gran-muhth-er, -grand-, -gram-] / ˌgreɪtˈgrænˌmʌð ər, -ˈgrænd-, -ˈgræm- /

noun

1. a grandmother of one's father or mother.

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Usage

What does great-grandmother mean? A great-grandmother is the mother of a person’s grandparent (the grandmother of a person’s parent).When a mother’s child has their own children, that mother becomes a grandmother. When those children have their own children, she becomes a great-grandmother.Should great-grandmother be capitalized?Great-grandmother should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Great-grandmother that I miss her. But great-grandmother does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to her, as in Please tell my great-grandmother that I miss her. Example: My kids were lucky enough to get to know three of their great-grandmothers.

Etymology

Origin of great-grandmother

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

Our mother, grandmother and now great-grandmother in the winter of her years.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

"Fishing folk mainly," she says, but her great-grandmother opened the village's first hotel, an irony not lost on her given her years-long campaign against over-reliance on tourism.

From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026

My mom, dad, newborn sister and I moved into the home after my great-grandmother died.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 7, 2026

One of Barnett’s previous clients was Alice Marie Johnson, a great-grandmother serving a life sentence for a first-time federal drug offense; Trump commuted her sentence in 2018 before fully pardoning her in 2020.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 2025

July 5, 1906, was a year after my great-grandmother on the Tweedy side died for the second and last time out in Banks County.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns