Great-grandmother – the mother of your grandmother or grandfather. This term can be used to describe the female ancestor belonging to an earlier generation of your bloodline. Great-grandmothers are usually recognized for their legacy through familial anecdotes, customs, cuisine, pictures, and culture that have been inherited over time.
Pronunciation & Spoken Tips for “Great-grandmother”
Audio (UK):
Audio (US):
Syllable structure: four syllables, stress on the first syllable, GRAND: great-GRAND-mo-ther. The important thing about pronunciation here is the th at the end of “mother” – it should be pronounced as a voiced /ð/, just like the th in “the” and “breathe”. Note that people in everyday speech often use shorter forms “great-grandma” or even “great-nan” in British English.
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Plural & Possessive Forms of “Great-grandmother”
Getting possessive forms and pluralization correct with compound family words is an example of something that sets apart more confident writers from the less assured ones. While “great-grandmother” does follow typical conventions of English language, the hyphen and apostrophe usage in particular can be problematic for people of all ages. Learn these rules now!
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Form |
Example |
|---|---|
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Singular: great-grandmother |
Her
|
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Plural: great-grandmothers |
Both of his
|
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Singular possessive: great-grandmother’s |
She wore her
|
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Plural possessive: great-grandmothers’ |
Both
|
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With “a”: a great-grandmother |
She became
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With possessive pronoun: my/your/his |
|
Natural Collocations: How to Talk About “Great-Grandmothers”
Collocations make English feel like it is really spoken, rather than being translated into it. “Great-grandmother” fits best into contexts that involve inheritance, likeness, continuity, and remembrance. The following collocations of verbs and adjectives will be encountered and used in speech and not in textbooks.
Verb + great-grandmother collocations:
- be named after a great-grandmother
- inherit (something) from a great-grandmother
- honour a great-grandmother
- hear stories about a great-grandmother
Adjective + great-grandmother collocations:
- late great-grandmother
- maternal/paternal great-grandmother
- beloved great-grandmother
Common Mistakes & How to Avoid Them
These are the mistakes that repeatedly pop up when speaking and writing English, from novice learners to advanced ones. They include some mechanical mistakes (such as spelling and hyphen usage), some grammatical mistakes (such as subject-verb agreement), and finally, there is a generation counting error.
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Why? |
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|---|---|---|
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My great grandmother was a nurse.
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My great-grandmother was a nurse.
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Always hyphenate. Two hyphens, no spaces. |
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Her great-grandmother are still alive.
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Her great-grandmother is still alive.
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Singular noun, singular verb. Always. |
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I found my great-grandmother recipe.
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I found my great-grandmother’s recipe.
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Possessive needs the apostrophe + s. |
“Great-grandmother” in Spanish, French, and German
Among the most rewarding aspects of studying family terminology across the various European languages is how the system consistently recurs; all languages have unique ways of expressing “one generation up.” Consider these three translations, each of which uses a different linguistic technique to accomplish the exact same goal.
| Language | Word for “Great-grandmother” |
|---|---|
Spanish
|
Bisabuela |
French
|
Arrière-grand-mère |
German
|
Urgroßmutter |
