Grandma in Arabic: Teta, Sitto and Jadda by Region
Grandma in Arabic is jadda (جدة, JAD-dah), the standard word for grandmother, and grandpa is jadd. But that’s rarely what a grandchild calls her. At home she is usually Teta (TAY-tah), Sitto or Sitt, depending on where the family’s Arabic comes from. Teta and Sitto are recorded for the Arabic of Lebanon and Syria, Teta and Sitt for Palestine and Jordan, Sitt and Sittu for Saudi Arabia’s Hijaz, and Egypt says gidda with a hard g and uses Teta as the familiar name. Grandpa’s everyday name to go with Teta is Jiddo.
Jadda: the standard word for grandmother
Wiktionary’s entry for جدة gives the Modern Standard Arabic word as jadda, “grandmother,” the feminine of jadd, “grandfather, ancestor.” The plural is jaddāt. It’s the standard written word, the one a formal card would use.
One thing surprised me in the family-terms table on that entry. Arabic has separate words for aunts and uncles depending on the side of the family: ʕamma is your father’s sister and khāla your mother’s. Grandmothers get no such split. Both are jadda. So unlike Hindi’s nani and dadi, which I covered in what Nani means, Arabic doesn’t settle the two-grandmother question for you. Families do it the usual way, with a first name or one grandmother taking Teta and the other Sitto.
The grandchildren are ḥafīd (grandson) and ḥafīda (granddaughter).
Teta: the Levantine grandma
Teta (تيتا, also spelled تيتة) is the name most English speakers have heard, and it’s the one the hub list calls “common across the Levant.” Wiktionary’s entry for تيتا records it in two dialects:
- North Levantine Arabic, which Wiktionary says is spoken in Lebanon and Syria. Here Teta is a pet name, “grandma,” pronounced TAY-tah. In Tripoli it’s closer to TIE-tah. It lists Sitto as a synonym and Jiddo (جدّو) as grandpa.
- South Levantine Arabic, spoken in Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Syria. Teta means “grandma, granny,” alongside Sitt and jidde for grandmother.
Egyptian Arabic has Teta too. The same جدة entry lists tēta as the familiar synonym of the Egyptian word for grandmother, gidda.
Teta’s doubled sound is why it sticks. A baby who can say “ta” can say Teta, which is the same reason Nana, Baba and Lola travel so well.
Sitto, Sitti and Sitt
The second family of grandma names comes from sitt. In Wiktionary’s dialect entries:
- North Levantine (Lebanon, Syria): Sitto is a synonym of Teta.
- South Levantine: Sitt is listed as a word for grandmother, next to Teta and jidde.
- Hijazi Arabic (Saudi Arabia): the grandmother is jadda, with sitt and sittu as synonyms.
- Egyptian: sitt is marked informal and used only in combination with a following word, not on its own.
You’ll also see it written Sitti in English, which is how my Jewish grandma names post gives it for Syrian Jewish families, where Sitto and Sitti are both in use. That post also notes that families from Aleppo often don’t use it at all, which is a good reminder that city matters as much as country.
Jadda, Jidda and Jeddah
The vowels in the middle matter more than English speakers expect. In Palestine and Jordan, Wiktionary records the grandmother word said four ways, jadde, jadda, jidde and jidda, all meaning the same woman. That’s why the older spelling Jidda turns up in English lists (mine included) for grandma.
In Saudi Arabia’s Hijazi Arabic, though, the Wiktionary entry keeps them apart: jadda is grandmother and Jidda is Jeddah, the port city in Mecca Province. Same letters on the page, different vowel, different meaning. If your family is from the Hijaz, the card says jadda.
Egyptian Arabic: gidda with a hard g
In Egyptian Arabic the same word is said with a hard g: Wiktionary gives grandmother as gidda (GID-dah) and grandfather as gidd. It also records Teta as the familiar form there, so Teta is at home in Egyptian families too. The difference shows up in the formal word.
Where my sources stop
Arabic is spoken from Morocco to Iraq and the Gulf, and every region has its own everyday grandmother words. The dictionary entries I could actually check cover Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s Hijaz. They don’t record the names used in Iraq, the Gulf states or North Africa, so I’m not going to guess at them here. If your family comes from one of those places, the grandmother in the family is the authority, and asking her is a lovely conversation to have.
Choosing Teta or Sitto as your grandma name
If the family’s Arabic is Lebanese, Syrian or Palestinian, Teta is the easy, warm choice, and Jiddo makes the matched pair. If the other grandmother has Teta already, Sitto is the natural second name in the same family, and nobody has to be “Teta 2.” When the other grandmother is the Arabic-speaking one and you are not, ask her before you take either name. I go through that conversation in grandma name already taken.
For the rest of the map, from Savta to Lola, see my grandma names in different languages guide.
FAQ: grandma in Arabic
How do you say grandma in Arabic?
The standard word is jadda (جدة). In everyday speech most families say Teta, Sitto or Sitt, depending on their dialect.
What does Teta mean?
Teta means “grandma.” Wiktionary records it in the Arabic of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt as the familiar, affectionate name for a grandmother.
What is the difference between Teta and Sitto?
Both mean grandma. Wiktionary lists Sitto as a synonym of Teta in Lebanese and Syrian Arabic, so a family can use either, or one for each grandmother.
What is grandpa in Arabic?
The standard word is jadd. The everyday name paired with Teta is Jiddo (جدّو). In Egypt the formal word is gidd.
Is it Jadda or Jidda?
Both are said for grandmother in Palestine and Jordan. In Saudi Arabia’s Hijazi Arabic, jadda is grandmother and Jidda is the city of Jeddah.
