grampa
Americannoun
Usage
What does grampa mean? Grampa is an informal word for grandfather—the father of a person’s parent.It’s a variant of the word grandpa, which is commonly pronounced like grampa.Grampa should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Grampa that I miss him. But grampa does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to him, as in Please tell my grampa that I miss him. Example: It doesn’t matter what you call your grampa, as long as you call him.
Etymology
Origin of grampa
First recorded in 1850–55; alteration of grandpa ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Jim Paulsen isn’t your typical “retired Grampa,” even though that’s how he describes himself in Paulsen Perspectives, the Substack newsletter that he started writing in February 2024.
From Barron's
I wasn’t sure just how Mr. Patterson’s grampa mobile translated to a limousine, but I felt so grateful that we might actually get to Maine that I blurted out, “You wanna come too?”
From Literature
“I added the eyelashes and lips. Grampa doesn’t much like them. He’s more of a traditionalist when it comes to lures. And most everything else.”
From Literature
“I made it. My grampa carves them, and I paint them. He was a pretty famous angler. People around here call him Kingfish. I’d love a nickname like that.”
From Literature
Dear Amy: “Grampa” was worried that his grandsons were overweight.
From Washington Post
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
