Grandmother in Different Languages
Discover 'Grandmother' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Grandmother
Afrikaans ouma | ||
Albanian gjyshja | ||
Amharic ሴት አያት | ||
Arabic جدة | ||
Armenian տատիկ | ||
Assamese আইতা | ||
Aymara awichajawa | ||
Azerbaijani nənə | ||
Bambara npogotiginin | ||
Basque amona | ||
Belarusian бабуля | ||
Bengali দাদী | ||
Bhojpuri दादी के बा | ||
Bosnian baka | ||
Bulgarian баба | ||
Catalan àvia | ||
Cebuano lola | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 祖母 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 祖母 | ||
Corsican mammone | ||
Croatian baka | ||
Czech babička | ||
Danish bedstemor | ||
Dhivehi ކާފަ އެވެ | ||
Dogri दादी जी | ||
Dutch grootmoeder | ||
English grandmother | ||
Esperanto avino | ||
Estonian vanaema | ||
Ewe tɔgbuiyɔvi | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) lola | ||
Finnish isoäiti | ||
French grand-mère | ||
Frisian beppe | ||
Galician avoa | ||
Georgian ბებია | ||
German oma | ||
Greek γιαγιά | ||
Guarani abuela | ||
Gujarati દાદી | ||
Haitian Creole grann | ||
Hausa kaka | ||
Hawaiian kupunawahine | ||
Hebrew סַבתָא | ||
Hindi दादी मा | ||
Hmong niam pog | ||
Hungarian nagymama | ||
Icelandic amma | ||
Igbo nne nne | ||
Ilocano lola | ||
Indonesian nenek | ||
Irish seanmháthair | ||
Italian nonna | ||
Japanese 祖母 | ||
Javanese eyang | ||
Kannada ಅಜ್ಜಿ | ||
Kazakh әже | ||
Khmer ជីដូន | ||
Kinyarwanda nyirakuru | ||
Konkani आजी | ||
Korean 할머니 | ||
Krio granma | ||
Kurdish dapîr | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) داپیرە | ||
Kyrgyz чоң эне | ||
Lao ແມ່ຕູ້ | ||
Latin avia | ||
Latvian vecmāmiņa | ||
Lingala nkoko ya mwasi | ||
Lithuanian močiutė | ||
Luganda jjajja | ||
Luxembourgish groussmamm | ||
Macedonian баба | ||
Maithili दादी | ||
Malagasy bebe | ||
Malay nenek | ||
Malayalam മുത്തശ്ശി | ||
Maltese nanna | ||
Maori kuia | ||
Marathi आजी | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯗꯥꯗꯥ꯫ | ||
Mizo pi leh pu | ||
Mongolian эмээ | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အဖွား | ||
Nepali हजुरआमा | ||
Norwegian mormor | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) agogo | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଜେଜେମା | ||
Oromo adaadaa | ||
Pashto نیا | ||
Persian مادر بزرگ | ||
Polish babcia | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) avó | ||
Punjabi ਦਾਦੀ | ||
Quechua hatun mama | ||
Romanian bunica | ||
Russian бабушка | ||
Samoan tinamatua | ||
Sanskrit पितामही | ||
Scots Gaelic seanmhair | ||
Sepedi nkgono wa mma | ||
Serbian бака | ||
Sesotho nkhono | ||
Shona ambuya | ||
Sindhi ڏاڏي | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ආච්චි | ||
Slovak babička | ||
Slovenian babica | ||
Somali ayeeyo | ||
Spanish abuela | ||
Sundanese nini | ||
Swahili bibi | ||
Swedish mormor | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) lola | ||
Tajik бибӣ | ||
Tamil பாட்டி | ||
Tatar әби | ||
Telugu అమ్మమ్మ | ||
Thai ยาย | ||
Tigrinya ዓባየይ | ||
Tsonga kokwa wa xisati | ||
Turkish nene | ||
Turkmen enesi | ||
Twi (Akan) nanabea | ||
Ukrainian бабуся | ||
Urdu دادی | ||
Uyghur مومىسى | ||
Uzbek buvi | ||
Vietnamese bà ngoại | ||
Welsh nain | ||
Xhosa umakhulu | ||
Yiddish באָבע | ||
Yoruba iya agba | ||
Zulu ugogo |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "ouma" can also mean "farm" or "large house" in Afrikaans. |
| Albanian | Gjyshja is also used in Albanian to refer to an elderly woman, even if she is not a grandmother. |
| Amharic | "ሴት አያት" can also be used to address an elderly or respected woman who is not necessarily family. |
| Arabic | "جدة" also refers to the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. |
| Armenian | The Armenian word “տատիկ” (tathik) may be related to the Proto-Indo-European root *atta, meaning “father”. |
| Azerbaijani | Derived from the Proto-Turkic "äni", it also means "mother" in some dialects. |
| Basque | The word “amona” comes from ancient Basque, and one of its meanings was “mother of the house”. |
| Belarusian | "Бабуля" is a Russian word that means "grandmother," but it can also refer to an elderly woman who is not a relative. |
| Bengali | The word "দাদী" can also be used to refer to an older woman who is not a relative, as a term of respect. |
| Bulgarian | The Slavic word baba originally meant 'midwife' and also denotes wise women in folklore. |
| Catalan | "Àvia" is a word that derives from the Latin "avia", which means "mother's mother" or "paternal grandmother". |
| Cebuano | Lola in Cebuano can also be used as a term of endearment for an elderly woman or a respected female elder. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "祖母" is used to refer to one's mother's mother or father's mother, while "外祖母" is used specifically for one's mother's mother. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 祖母 ('grandmother') contains the morpheme '母' ('mother'), but in ancient China, it also referred to 'father's mother'. |
| Corsican | "A mammone" in Corsican refers to the goddess Mammon in Greek mythology, who was the personification of wealth and greed. |
| Croatian | The word "baka" in Croatian has an interesting etymology, originating from the Proto-Slavic verb "bъbati" meaning "to mutter". It's also used as a playful or affectionate term for an elderly woman, conveying a sense of warmth and endearment. |
| Czech | The word "babička" is thought to derive from the Old Slavic word "baba" meaning "old woman" or "mother." |
| Danish | In addition to meaning 'grandmother', the word 'bedstemor' also literally means 'prayer mother' in Danish. |
| Dutch | Grootmoeder is a compound word consisting of groot ('big', 'great') and moeder ('mother'). |
| Esperanto | "Avino" comes from Hungarian "anya" ("mother") and the suffix "-in-", used in Esperanto to form diminutives, which is why the word means "grandmother." |
| Estonian | Estonian "vanaema" derives from "vana" (old) and "ema" (mother), but also means "midwife" or "fairy godmother". |
| Finnish | Derived from Proto-Finnic *iso 'father' and *äiti 'mother', originally meaning 'stepmother' |
| French | The word « grand-mère » is derived from the Latin « grandis mater », meaning « great mother ». |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "beppe" can also be used to refer to a "stepmother" or a "godmother". |
| Galician | Galician word "avoa," akin to Spanish "abuela," derives from the Latin word "aviola," meaning "grandfather's wife." |
| Georgian | In Georgian, "ბებია" not only refers to a grandmother but also can mean "old woman" or "elderly lady." |
| German | The German word 'Oma' not only refers to 'grandmother', but also affectionately to an elderly, corpulent woman. |
| Greek | The word |
| Gujarati | The word “દાદી” can also refer to a midwife or nurse who assists in childbirth. |
| Haitian Creole | Grann, the Haitian Creole word for 'grandmother', originates from the French word 'grand-mère' meaning 'great mother'. |
| Hausa | The word "kaka" in Hausa also refers to a kind of bird and a type of musical instrument. |
| Hawaiian | The word is also used to refer to a great-grandmother or other female ancestor. |
| Hebrew | The word "סבתא" (sabta) can also refer to a type of female demon in Jewish mythology known as a Lilith or Shedim. |
| Hindi | In the Kumaoni language, दादी मा means both grandmother and maternal aunt. |
| Hmong | The term "niampog" is an affectionate way in Hmong of expressing a parental figure that is not necessarily of blood, which is why many Hmong people use this name to express respect. |
| Hungarian | The word "nagymama" is derived from the Old Hungarian word "nag", meaning "old", and "mama", meaning "mother". |
| Icelandic | In Icelandic, "amma" also means "mother" while "afamma" means "grandmother". |
| Igbo | "Nne nne" also means "my mother's mother" and is an Igbo term of endearment for grandmothers. |
| Indonesian | In some Indonesian languages, the word 'nenek' can also refer to an elderly woman or an ancestor. |
| Irish | The word "seanmháthair" comes from "sean" (old) and "máthair" (mother), and can also be used as a term of respect for older women. |
| Italian | The Italian word "nonna", meaning "grandmother", is derived from the Latin word "nōna", which originally referred to the ninth hour of the day and was later used to mean "the older female head of the household." |
| Japanese | The word "祖母" (grandmother) can also mean "mother of the monk" in the Buddhist context. |
| Javanese | The term 'eyang' can also refer to ancestors, great-grandmothers, and people with high status in Javanese culture. |
| Kannada | The word 'ಅಜ್ಜಿ' in Kannada also means 'mistress of the house' and is derived from the Sanskrit word 'ajja'. |
| Kazakh | In folklore, it also means “the spirit of the earth” and other deities of feminine nature. |
| Khmer | The word ជីដូន, besides meaning grandmother, can also be used to refer to an old lady who is not a relative. |
| Korean | 할머니 can also refer to a woman who is a grandmother or great-grandmother. |
| Kurdish | The Kurdish word "dapîr" not only means "grandmother", but also signifies respect and wisdom among the elderly Kurdish community. |
| Kyrgyz | Etymology: "чоң" meaning "big" or "great", and "эне" meaning "mother", referring to the seniority and respect accorded to a grandmother. |
| Lao | The word "ແມ່ຕູ້" can also refer to a woman who is in charge of a household or a group of people. |
| Latin | The word 'avia' in Latin can also refer to a female ancestor, a bird, or a type of grapevine. |
| Latvian | "Vecmāmiņa" originally meant "midwife" but later took on the meaning of "grandmother". |
| Lithuanian | The word "močiutė" comes from the Lithuanian word "močius" which means "old woman" or "grandmother" |
| Luxembourgish | The word "Groussmamm" in Luxembourgish can also refer to a godmother or a female elderly person. |
| Macedonian | The word "баба" can also refer to an elderly woman who is not related to the speaker, or to a female deity. |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "Bebe" also means "elder sister" or "aunt". |
| Malay | The word "nenek" in Malay originally meant "female elder" or "ancestor", and is related to the words "nenekanda" (grandfather) and "nenek moyang" (ancestors). |
| Malayalam | The word "മുത്തശ്ശി" in Malayalam also means "pearl" and is often used as a term of endearment for elderly women. |
| Maltese | Maltese "nanna," "nanniet," or "nan" are derived from Sicilian "nonna," "nunnuta," or "nannu" which mean "godmother" or "goddaughter" in Sicilian and are not exclusively applied to grandmothers or granddaughters. |
| Maori | The word "kuia" in Maori also carries the meanings of "old woman" or "respected elder woman". |
| Marathi | In Marathi, "आजी" is also a term of endearment used for an elderly female figure, such as a godmother or a maternal aunt. |
| Mongolian | The word "эмээ" is also used to refer to a female ancestor, such as a great-grandmother or great-great-grandmother. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The term "အဖွား" can also be a term of respect used for a woman who is not a relative but who is older and wiser than oneself. |
| Nepali | The word "हजुरआमा" can also be used as a respectful term of address for an elderly woman |
| Norwegian | The word "mormor" can also refer to a mother's mother or an older woman. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "agogo" can also refer to the grandmother's age group, a group of women who are considered to be the elders of the community.} |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "نیا" ("grandmother") can also refer to an elderly woman or a respected female elder. |
| Persian | The word "مادر بزرگ" in Persian is translated as "grandmother" in English. It literally means "Big Mother" in Persian. |
| Polish | Derived from the Slavic word *baba* (“old woman”), the endearment *babcia* means different things in different Slavic languages, including aunt, midwife, or even witch. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "avó" may also be used to address an elderly woman who is not related to the speaker. |
| Punjabi | *Dadi* is also an affectionate term for a maternal aunt in Hindi and other North Indian languages. |
| Romanian | The word "bunica" can also mean "sweet pastry" or "bun" in Romanian. |
| Russian | The word “бабушка” can also refer to an elderly woman who is not necessarily related to the speaker |
| Samoan | Tinamatua also refers to the female head of the household, a respected matriarchal figure |
| Scots Gaelic | Seanmhair is also an affectionate term for an old (usually female) friend, or someone who is wise and experienced. |
| Serbian | Serbian word "бака" is also used to refer to female elderly neighbour in a friendly informal way. |
| Sesotho | The word nkhono can be used to refer to a grandmother, an older woman, or even a wise woman |
| Shona | The word 'ambuya' can also refer to an elderly female figure or a respected woman. |
| Sindhi | In Sindhi, "ڏاڏي" ("grandmother") can also refer to an elderly or respected female figure in the community. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhala word "ආච්චි" can also mean "aunt" or "respected elder woman" in other contexts. |
| Slovak | In Slovak, 'babička' can also refer to an old or respected woman, regardless of her relation to the speaker. |
| Slovenian | In the past, "babica" also referred to a midwife, indicating the traditional role of grandmothers in childbirth. |
| Somali | Ayeeyo can also mean 'a young and unmarried girl' |
| Spanish | The word 'abuela' is derived from the Latin word 'aviola', which means 'little bird'. |
| Sundanese | "Nini" in Sundanese is also a term of endearment for older women, and can be used to address elderly women who are not one's grandmother. |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "bibi" can also mean "wife" or "lady". |
| Swedish | In Swedish, «mormor» (grandmother) was originally used only for maternal grandmothers; «farmor» was used for paternal grandmothers. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | In the Philippines, "lola" may also be a term of endearment for a beloved elderly neighbor or friend. |
| Tajik | The word "бибӣ" means "mistress" which can also be derived from the word "опа" (sister) indicating the position in the family hierarchy. |
| Tamil | The word "பாட்டி" can also refer to a respected or wise older woman in Tamil society. |
| Telugu | The Telugu word 'అమ్మమ్మ' (grandmother) also refers to an elderly woman, particularly one who is respected or revered. |
| Thai | In Thai, the word "ยาย" (grandmother) can also refer to an elderly or respected woman. |
| Turkish | Nene in Turkish can also be used to address elderly women, like a term of endearment. |
| Ukrainian | The word "бабуся" may also be used as a term of endearment for an older woman or a female elder in a community. |
| Urdu | The word "دادی" (grandmother) is also used in a metaphorical sense to refer to a woman who is highly respected and revered. |
| Uzbek | The word "buvi" for "grandmother" in Uzbek is said to be derived from the Ancient Turkic word "bubu" meaning "father's mother". |
| Vietnamese | "Bà ngoại" literally means "the lady on the outside" and was originally used for one's mother-in-law, but it is now commonly used for grandmother. |
| Welsh | Welsh "nain" may originally have implied "old woman," and has been used in placenames for "rock," "cliff," or "hill." |
| Xhosa | The word "umakhulu" can refer to any older woman and, more broadly, to "mother of the king." |
| Yiddish | The word "בּאָבע" can also be used to refer to an old woman, a gossip, or a witch. |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba term "iya agba" also refers to a woman of advanced age who is respected and revered in the community. |
| Zulu | The word 'ugogo' can also refer to an elderly woman who is not necessarily a grandmother but is respected like one. |
| English | The term 'grandmother' is derived from the Old English words 'grand' (meaning 'large') and 'moder' (meaning 'mother'). |