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nanny

Pronunciation: /ˈnæni/

The English word “nanny” has 7 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A child's nurse.
  2. A grandmother.
  3. A godmother.
  4. A female goat.
  5. Synonym of sylvester (“device for pulling out pit props”).

verb

  1. To serve as a nanny.
  2. To treat like a nanny's charges; to coddle.

Etymology

From nan (“grandmother; nursemaid”) + -y. The root is from nana (“grandma; nanny”), which is from nanna (“grandmother”), which is possibly derived from Proto-Celtic *nana (“grandmother”). See also Proto-Brythonic *nanī, Welsh nain (“grandmother”), Galician nana (“mama”), Spanish nana (“granny; nanny; mommy; housekeeper”), Sicilian nanna (“grandma”), Italian nonna (“granny”), Late Latin nonna…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.