• 2-minute read
  • 29th July 2020

Spelling Tips: Granddad, Grandad and Granddaughter

It’s easy to remember how to spell ‘grandma’, ‘grandmother’ and ‘grandson’ – they all have a single ‘d’. But when it comes to ‘granddad’, ‘grandad’ and ‘granddaughter’, it’s a little trickier. Which of these spellings are correct? In this post, we’ll look at how to avoid errors when using these words.

Granddad or Grandad?

‘Granddad’ and ‘grandad’ both mean ‘grandfather’ (i.e. the father of a mother or father). Both spellings are common, and you’ll find both in dictionaries:

Kim’s grandad lives in New York.

Kim’s granddad lives in New York.

In most cases, then, the ‘correct’ spelling is simply a matter of preference.

Both spellings are common in British English, but ‘granddad’ with a double ‘d’ is the more popular spelling in American English. As such, you may want to use the spelling that is most common in your dialect (or that your readers will know best).

Granddaughter or Grandaughter?

A ‘granddaughter’ is a female grandchild. Some people misspell this word as ‘grandaughter’ with only one ‘d’, but the correct spelling is ‘granddaughter’:

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Joy looks after her granddaughter on Tuesdays.

Joy looks after her grandaughter on Tuesdays.

Why does ‘grandad’ have a single ‘d’ spelling and not ‘granddaughter’? There is no reason! It’s just a matter of convention (welcome to the confusing world of English spelling). But until single ‘d’ spelling catches on, the only correct version of this word is ‘granddaughter’ with a double ‘d’.

Summary: Granddad, Grandad and Granddaughter

To summarise what we’ve explained in this post:

  • Both ‘granddad’ and ‘grandad’ are common spellings.
  • In British English, ‘grandad’ and ‘granddad’ are both common.
  • In American English, ‘granddad’ is the standard spelling.
  • ‘Granddaughter’ is the only correct spelling for a female grandchild.

Hopefully, this should help you to avoid spelling errors. But if you’d like an expert to check your writing is error free, our proofreaders can help!

Comments (5)
David
12th May 2021 at 05:23
Thanks. A great site!
Tony Knaggs
5th June 2021 at 19:41
I worked on a British newspaper at East Yorkshire Newspapers part of the Yorkshire Post Group for 28 years and we had a booklet printed with the correct Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation of the house style. We were told to hyphenate grand-dad if necessary to accommodate the name in a single column otherwise it was always ONE word granddad with two d's. Wikipedia says it is American English with two ds and English with one d. I say it is the other way round because the spellcheck is an American tool.
    Proofed
    7th June 2021 at 09:13
    Hi, Tony. The spellings discussed in this post are based on the standard spellings given in UK and US dictionaries. But most publishers and newspapers will have a style guide or sheet, including spelling preferences for certain words, for their in-house style, and you might be interested to know that there are some signs that 'granddad' is becoming more common in UK English recently (e.g. Google Ngrams shows it as having overtaken 'grandad' since the year 2000: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=grandad%2Cgranddad&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=29&smoothing=3#). Also, while the first spell-checking software was American, you can change the dialect it uses in most cases, so it shouldn't really make a difference here!
Pam
17th November 2021 at 23:53
I saw it explained once in an article which made sense. These folks are “grand” parents, you have a grand mom and a grand dad; therefore you would have a granddad not a grandad.
    Proofed
    18th November 2021 at 09:52
    Hi, Pam. As mentioned in the post, both 'grandad' and 'granddad' are common in British English, with 'grandad' now often considered the standard spelling in the UK (i.e. the spelling you'll find listed first in British English dictionaries). It's possible the article you saw was American, though, as 'granddad' is significantly more common there.




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