Hungarian term for Grandma
 

My mom's forgotten a lot of the Hungarian she learned as a child. She will be a great grandma soon and would like this new little life to refer to her by an especially loving and sweet Hungarian word for Grandma. Something that an English speaking child could say. Can anybody out there help? Thanks.

Hungarian is not a language that lends itself easily to an English tongue.

The official word for grandmother is "nagyanya"; if one is addressing one's own grandmother, one could call her "nagymama". There is also an official word for great-grandmother: "dédanya", but it's hardly loving and sweet.

Although born and raised Hungarian, I was unable to master the above words as a small child and called my grandmother "nyenye".

The problem is that I find it difficult to explain the sound of the "gy" or the "ny" combination in Hungarian.

If you would like to use "nagymama", ask your mother to pronounce the word for Hungarian: "Magyar". That will give you the "gy" combination. The "a"s are pronounced, more or less, like the "a" in "cart", but they are shorter.

The closest I can come for "nyenye" is that the "ny" is pronounced like the first "n" (the one with the tilde) in the Spanish word "manana". The "e" is pronounced like the "ea" combination in the word "weather".

Hi, Eloise--
We just got you reply, and my mom says thank you so much--qoszonom szepen! She says that the term you used for your own grandmother--nyenye--sounds perfect and wonderful, and she can hardly wait to use it. Many thanks from my mom Helen (Ilonka). And thanks from me, too, Eloise.
Barbara

My best wishes to you and your mother - and for the little one to come!

Good Day!
Sorry for throwing in my 5 cents but nowadays 20 Hungarian kids out of 10!, use the word “NAGYI” for their grandmothers. Same thing applies to their parents, for instance when they say to their kids: we are going to visit grandma today. They will definitely use the word NAGYI instead of saying Nagymama or my mother.
You pronounce it kind of N-A-H-D-E-E, where D-E, sound like the Spanish manyana but a very soft D instead of N.
The word NYENYE you will mostly find on African or Africa related websites just try it with GOOGLE.
Best regards,
Bela Lukacs

I know it is years after the initial question, but the nice word for great grandma in Hungarian is dédi (pr. daadee). it is the short version of dédmama, and it is kind, loving and very sweeet. So use it if you can.

My family name is Nagy. I only spoke Hungarian until I was 6 years old. Unfortunateley I lost it all. But I do know how to pronounce the Na Gy. Soon I will be a Great Nagyanya orr dedi demama

Congratulations, Eleanor!

nagy in Hungarian means big or grand