Meanings
adjectivegrandfatherly (comparative more grandfatherly, superlative most grandfatherly)
comparative more grandfatherly · superlative most grandfatherly
- Resembling or characteristic of a grandfather.
[...] with grandfatherly pride he showed pictures of his grandchildren to visitors.
1965, Richard Willstätter, translated by Lilli S. Hornig, edited by Arthur Stoll, From My Life: The Memoirs of Richard Willstätter, page 4351 more example
No one among the 25 wealthiest avoided as much tax as Buffett, the grandfatherly centibillionaire.
2021 June 8, Jesse Eisinger, Jeff Ernsthausen, Paul Kiel, “The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax”, in ProPublica, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2022
Origin
- Englishgrandfather
- Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
- Proto-Germanic*līką
- Englishgrandfatherly
From grandfather + -ly (adjectival suffix).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch groodvaderlijk
- groodvaderlijkof or characteristic of grandfathers
Esperanto ava
- avaof or characteristic of grandfathers
French grand-paternel, grand-paternel
- grand-paternelof or characteristic of grandfathers
- grand-paternelresembling a grandfather
German großväterlich, grossväterlich
- großväterlichof or characteristic of grandfathers
- grossväterlichof or characteristic of grandfathers
Cite this entry
APA
grandfatherly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grandfatherly
MLA
“grandfatherly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grandfatherly. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “grandfatherly,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grandfatherly.
Source: grandfatherly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.