nonna

N1O1N1N1A1
/ˈnɒnə//ˈnɔːnə//ˈnoʊnə/

noun

A grandmother, especially one with Italian ancestry.

OriginItalian nonna →
UncommonScrabble 5
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounnonna (plural nonnas)

plural nonnas

  1. informalA grandmother, especially one with Italian ancestry.

    An article last month in The Daily News talked about Enoteca Maria, a restaurant in Staten Island that has no professional chef, just a rotating roster of eight nonnas, or grandmothers, from different regions of Italy.

    2009 July 29, Alex Witchel, “Borscht: What Would Nana Say?”, in New York Times

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
grandmother

Origin

  1. Italiannonna
  2. Italiannonna
  3. Englishnonna

Borrowed from Italian nonna. Doublet of nun.

More words from Italian

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with nonna

ArizonagonnaBarcelonawannadonnasaunacoronabolognafaunaJonahVeronakonamonakronapomonabonapersonaWinonaRamonaIonakimonoLeonaShonabelladonna
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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