Word.ws English Dictionary

granny

Syllables: gran·ny/ˈɡɹæni/

granny noun: a grandmother. Also the ellipsis of granny knot.

Noun (1)

granny (plural grannies)

  1. (colloquial) A grandmother.
    • I'm going to be a granny.
    • Good morning, Granny!
    Synonyms:
    abuela, baba, babcia, babulya /babulia (chiefly in Eastern European (especially Russian) contexts), babushka, babusia, babusya /babusia, beldame, bubbe, eldermother
  2. (colloquial) Any elderly woman, regardless of if she has grandchildren.
    • That granny over there needs your assistance.
    Synonyms:
    old dear
  3. (colloquial) An older ewe that may lure a lamb away from its mother.

Adjective

granny (not comparable)

  1. (informal) Typically or stereotypically old-fashioned, especially in clothing and accessories worn by or associated with elderly women.
    • granny dress; granny glasses
    • Long brown fluffy hair, slightly curled on the ends, black coat, gold buttons, belt around the middle, bare legs, no socks, granny heels, also black, shoulder bag, black, transistor radio.1965, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure

Verb

granny (third-person singular simple present grannies, present participle grannying, simple past and past participle grannied)

  1. (informal, intransitive) To be a grandmother.
  2. (informal, intransitive) To act like a stereotypical grandmother; to fuss.

Noun (2)

granny (plural grannies)

  1. (Australia, colloquial) A grand final.
    • On the morning of the 'granny', the three Vizards would hop into Godfrey's Dodge and head off towards the MCG.2007, Steve Bedwell, Vizard Uncut, Melbourne University Publish, →ISBN, page 30
    • Jase was controversially suspended and prevented from playing in the granny.2016, Brent Harvey, Boomer, Macmillan Publishers Aus., →ISBN

Also used as

granny is also the ellipsis of granny knot.

granny meaning in Marathi and Arabic

granny in Marathi

colloquial: grandmother — see also grandma
आजी ājī

granny in Arabic

colloquial: grandmother — see also grandma
جِدَّة jidda, تِيتَة tīta

Examples of granny in a sentence

  • Travelling with their granny, who seems more interested in her crossword puzzle than them, they bicker and fight in a futile bid to get her attention.2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55:
  • Good news is I'll be playing in the granny.2020, Marlion Pickett, Dave Warner, Belief, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

All 40 example sentences with granny

Synonyms of granny

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of granny

Forms of granny

Noun
pluralgrannies
alternative formgrammy
Verb
third-person singular presentgrannies
present participlegrannying
past participlegrannied
pastgrannied

Origin of granny

From gran(nam) + -y.

From gran(d) + -y.

Words formed from granny

Phrases with granny

5 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with granny

4 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about granny

What does granny mean?
Granny means a grandmother.
What is granny in Marathi?
Granny in Marathi is आजी (ājī). See Granny meaning in Marathi.
How do you use granny in a sentence?
Travelling with their granny, who seems more interested in her crossword puzzle than them, they bicker and fight in a futile bid to get her attention.
What part of speech is granny?
Granny can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce granny?
Granny is pronounced /ˈɡɹæni/.
What is the plural of granny?
The plural of granny is grannies.

Words near granny in the dictionary

  1. grannom
  2. grannoms
  3. grannum
  4. grannums
  5. Grannus
  6. granny
  7. granny annexe
  8. granny annexes
  9. granny cart
  10. granny carts
  11. granny chaser

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: granny (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-granny.wav.

Cite this entry: “granny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/granny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.