grandfather

Meaning

Noun

1. A father of someone's parent.
2. A male forefather.
3. The archived older version of a file that immediately preceded the father file.

Verb

To be, or act as, a grandfather to.

Verb

To retain discontinued laws or rules for (an object, individual or organization previously affected by them).

Hyphenated as

grand‧fa‧ther

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English grandfadre, graundfadir, graunfadir, grauntfader, and other forms, from graunt (“big, large; great, important”) + fā̆der (“male parent, father; remoter male ancestor”), probably modelled after Middle French grandpere, grant pere (“male parent; remoter male ancestor”) (whence French grand-père); the English word is analysable as grand- + father. Superseded earlier eldfather, elderfather.
The verb is derived from the noun.

Sentences

His grandfather is British .