amona
/amona/
The Basque word for grandma is amona.
amona means grandmother and is used as an informal term of endearment, much like the English word 'granny'.
Meaning: grandmother (informal) (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
In Basque, if the grandmother is the subject of a transitive verb, the word takes the ergative suffix to become amonak. If you are giving something to the grandmother, the word takes the dative suffix to become amonari.
How do you pronounce it?
/amona/
Did you know?
- Basque is a language isolate, meaning the word amona has no known cognates or relatives in Spanish, French, or any other Indo-European language.
- The transition from 'mother' to 'grandmother' in Basque is achieved by adding a descriptor of quality, rather than a numerical or generational marker.
- Because Basque is an agglutinative language, a single word like amona can grow into a long chain of suffixes to express complex relationships or locations without using separate prepositions.
Examples in context
- Kaixo, amona, zer moduz?Hi, grandma, how are you?
- Amona bizi da orain.Grandma is alive now.
- Amonak tortia egin dizu.Grandma made you an omelet.
Example conversation
Nerea and Iker are talking about their weekend plans.
- Nereainterfestu amona bisitatzeko?Are you interested in visiting grandma?
- IkerBai, gogoko noa.Yes, I would love to go.
- NereaAmona cake egitean ona da.Grandma is good at making cake.
- IkerHura talaga onena da!She really is the best!
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry amona, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
