great-grandson

The term "great-grandson" is a transparent English compound built by sequentially adding generational modifiers to the core kinship term "son." The element "grand," borrowed from Latin via French, was established in Middle English to indicate a parent's parent. The prefix "great-" was later appended as a productive English mechanism to extend this lineage further, each "great-" denoting an additional generational step. Thus, the word's logic is arithmetical and hierarchical, literally constructing the meaning "the son at the third descending generation" through the layering of "great" upon "grand."

Structure: great (degree) + grand (generation) + son (child) - great: From Old English grēat (big, coarse, thick), of Germanic origin. In this compound, it functions as an intensifier denoting a further degree of lineal descent. - grand: From Middle English graund, from Anglo-French graunt, grant, from Latin grandis (large, great, full-grown). In kinship terms, it denotes a generation once removed. - son: From Old English sunu, of Germanic origin, from Proto-Indo-European suHnús (son).