great-

prefix

With familial designations, used to denote a removal of one generation

“great-great-great-grandfather, etc.”

Similar
grand-
OriginMiddle English gret- →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

prefix
  1. With familial designations, used to denote a removal of one generation

    great-great-great-grandfather, etc.

    5 more examples

    great-uncle (an uncle of one's mother or father)

    great-grandfather (the father of one's grandfather)

    great-great-grandfather (a grandfather of one's grandfather)

    (informal) fourth-great-granduncle, etc. (same as great-great-great-great-granduncle)

    (informal) fourth-great-grandfather, etc. (same as great-great-great-great-grandfather)

    Synonyms: grand-

Synonyms & antonyms

prefixWith familial designations, used to denote a removal of one generation

Similar
grand-
Also see
grand-

Origin

  1. Middle Englishgret-“great-”
  2. Englishgreat-

From Middle English gret- (“great-”), from gret (“great”). More at great.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian пра-
  • пра- (pra-)removal of one generation
Catalan bes-
  • bes-removal of one generation
Chinese Cantonese 太
  • 太 (taai³)removal of one generation
Czech pra-
  • pra-removal of one generation
Danish tip-
  • tip-removal of one generation
Esperanto pra-
  • pra-removal of one generation
Finnish iso-
  • iso-removal of one generation
French arrière
  • arrièreremoval of one generation
German ur-
  • ur-removal of one generation
Greek προ-
  • προ- (pro-)removal of one generation
Hungarian déd-
  • déd-removal of one generation
Irish sean-
  • sean-removal of one generation
Italian bis-, pro-
  • bis-removal of one generation
  • pro-removal of one generation
Polish pra-
  • pra-removal of one generation
Portuguese ta-
  • ta-removal of one generation
Romanian stră-
  • stră-removal of one generation
Russian пра-
  • пра- (pra-)removal of one generation
Slovak pra-
  • pra-removal of one generation
Spanish bis-
  • bis-removal of one generation
Swedish gammel-
  • gammel-removal of one generation
Ukrainian пра-
  • пра- (pra-)removal of one generation
Welsh hen, gor-
  • henremoval of one generation
  • gor-removal of one generation
Yiddish אור־, עלטער־
  • אור־ (ur-)removal of one generation
  • עלטער־ (elter-)removal of one generation
Cite this entry
APA

great-. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/great-

MLA

“great-.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/great-. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “great-,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/great-.

Source: great- on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.