What does grandnephew mean?
A grandnephew is the son of a person's nephew or niece. Put more simply, he is the grandson of the person's brother or sister, which makes him one generation removed from the family member who is his parent. The term distinguishes him from an ordinary nephew, who is the child of a brother or sister. Grandnephew is standard in both British and American English, and many writers also use the hyphenated form "great-nephew." It appears in family conversations, genealogical records, biographies, and formal accounts of political or royal relationships. Although the word may sound formal or old-fashioned in everyday speech, it remains useful because ordinary terms such as "nephew" do not identify this more distant relationship precisely. In a large or complicated family, however, writers may prefer a fuller description when that would be clearer to the intended audience.
nounA grandnephew is the son of one's nephew or niece. Equivalently, he is the grandson of one's sibling.
- The son of one's nephew or niece; equivalently, the grandson of one's sibling.
"My grandnephew is visiting us for the summer."
"Her grandnephew was the ring bearer at the wedding."
"The speech used the term grandnephew to describe the president's grandson through an older brother."
The standard plural adds -s.
"The two grandnephews competed in the annual family tournament."
Grandnephew turns a family tree into a puzzle: if he is your sibling's grandson, his parents are your nephew or niece.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does grandnephew come from?
Grandnephew is an English compound formed by combining grand- with nephew, in parallel with related terms such as grandniece. The grand- element in English kinship vocabulary comes through Old French from Latin grandis, meaning "large" or "great," while nephew descends from Old English nefa, an older and broader kinship term. The compound became established in modern English and is found in both hyphenated and unhyphenated forms. French has the cognate grand-neveu, and several other European languages use parallel forms meaning "great-nephew."
Related word forms
How grandnephew is actually used
The word is standard in British and American English. The hyphenated spelling "great-nephew" is also widely accepted, while "grand nephew" is a common unhyphenated variant.
Easily confused with grandnephew
A nephew is the son of one's sibling, whereas a grandnephew is the son of one's nephew or niece.