Granny

How to spell granny

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce granny

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does granny mean?

1. nounAn informal, affectionate word for a grandmother.

Granny in a sentence

• My granny knits a new scarf for every grandchild each winter.

• The children spend every summer at the seaside cottage where their granny lives.

Where does granny come from?

Language of origin: French

Granny is an affectionate pet form that grew out of the longer word 'grandam', which English took from the Old French 'grand dame', literally 'grand lady' or 'great lady'. The first element traces to the Latin 'grandis', meaning 'great' or 'full-grown', the very same root that sits inside 'grand' and 'grandeur'. In English usage 'grandam' was clipped and softened to 'grannam', and by the late 1600s the cosy diminutive 'granny' had settled in, formed by adding the familiar -y ending that English loves to tack onto family names (compare 'daddy' and 'auntie'). The double n that catches some writers reflects the short, stressed 'a' in the first syllable, a normal English spelling habit that keeps the vowel short before the suffix. The same fondness for the word produced lasting offshoots such as the 'granny knot', a clumsily tied version of the reef knot, and the 'granny flat', a small self-contained home for an older relative.

How the word is built

• grann- (familiar shortening of grandmother/grandam)
• -y (diminutive, affectionate suffix)