Grandchildren

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The next generation of family members that arise from a person's children, embodying joy and connection across time
2. Individuals who are the offspring of a person's own children, representing a subsequent generation
3. Descendants two generations removed, who are the direct progeny of one's sons or daughters

Etymology: "Grandchildren" is simply the plural of "grandchild", so its story is really the story of the two parts it is built from. "Grand-" comes from Old French "grand", meaning great or large, which English borrowed and used as a prefix for family members one generation further removed: a grandparent is a parent of a parent, and a grandchild is a child of a child. The "grand-" prefix therefore marks a relationship that is larger or more distant than the one it modifies. "Child" is much older and more basic. It descends from Old English "cild", which referred to a young human being, and it has been part of the language for centuries in roughly its present sense. Joining the two gives a compound that describes a descendant at exactly two steps down the family line, which is why the plural simply adds an "s" to the final word, as in "grandchildren".