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"Nieto" is a grandson (and "Nieta" presumably a granddaughter).

"Bisnieto" is a great-grandson (and "bisnieta" no doubt a great-granddaughter).

"Bis" means "encore".

So is a grandchild an "encore" grandchild?

I think of an "encore" that a musical band may perform as a sort of a "bonus" set (one ore more "extra" songs to finish a concert, if all has gone well, or to reward an appreciative audience).

Is the sense of "bisnieto" that, although one may expect to have children and grandchildren - nothing too unusual in that - to have great-grandchildren is something of a "bonus"?

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  • What is the difference between a grandson and a grandchild?
    – Joze
    Apr 13, 2016 at 15:00
  • A grandchild can be either male or female.
    – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven
    Apr 13, 2016 at 15:02
  • Then the correct answer is NOT bisnieto...
    – Joze
    Apr 13, 2016 at 19:53
  • No; how could it be? That would not answer the question at all.
    – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven
    Apr 13, 2016 at 20:45

2 Answers 2

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Bis, bi means two or twice; bisnieto means, roughly, twice the grandchild. I don't think bisnieto has the meaning of a bonus.

From Definiciona:

Este vocablo en su etimología esta compuesto del prefijo latino “bi” dos y del latín popular “nepta”, a su vez del latín “neptis” que quiere decir nieto.

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1

Bis comes from the Latin meaning twice. So in some countries you shout it to get what in the UK you would shout encore for. So it is twice a grand child not an encore grand child.

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  • Do you have some examples of countries? That is very interesting.
    – aparente001
    Jan 24, 2018 at 4:38
  • Well @aparente001 I suspect this is a bit off-topic, but French, Italian, Portuguese seem to use the word bis in that sense.
    – mdewey
    Jan 24, 2018 at 11:56

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