Does praděd always mean great grandfather, or can it mean any ancestors who came before a great grandfather?
"pra" is allways one step - so "Praděd" is allways "great grandfather" (you can cumulate many "pra"s if its possible to count them in speach) for any ancestors who came before a (grand)father(or mother we use "prapředek"
Kibicz, Thank you . Another question. Would someone say, "František is my praprapraděd" or pra pra praděd?
Prapraprabába mé prabáby byla po svý praprapratetě neteří tetinýho zetě, jenž pak byl dítě dítěte královny ze Sáby. Praprapraděd mého praděda proslavil se pro všechny časy tím že skryl do rodinný kasy skalp se třemi zlatými vlasy děda Vševěda.
To answer your question in simple terms: "praprapraděd" is correct. I come from Northern Moravia and when I saw the topic title, I thought the discussion was going to be about Praděd, the highest mountain of the Jeseníky Mountains.