English Explanatory Dictionary

tan

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A light, brown-like colour.
  2. A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.
  3. The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.
adj
  1. Yellowish-brown.
  2. Having dark skin as a result of exposure to the sun or an artificial process intended to mimic this effect.
verb
  1. To change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun.
  2. To change an animal hide into leather by soaking it in tannic acid.
  3. To work as a tanner.
  4. To spank or beat.
num
  1. The second cardinal number two, formerly used in Celtic areas, especially Cumbria and parts of Yorkshire, for counting sheep, and stitches in knitting.
noun
  1. An Armenian drink made of yoghurt and water similar to airan and doogh
noun
  1. Synonym of picul, particularly in Cantonese contexts.
noun
  1. A twig or small switch.
verb
  1. To kill by gun, to shoot.
name
  1. A Chinese surname from Mandarin.
name
  1. A Chinese surname from Hokkien.
name
  1. Alternative form of Dan.
name
  1. A surname from Vietnamese.
noun
  1. Initialism of total acid number, the measure of a lubricant's or crude oil's acidity. See Total acid number on Wikipedia.
  2. Initialism of transaction authentication number, in electronic banking. See Transaction authentication number on Wikipedia.

Pronunciation

/ˈtæn/ [ˈtʰæn] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tan.wav /ˈtɛə̯n/ [ˈtʰɛən] [t˭än]

Word forms

tan tans tanner tannest tanning tanned

Etymology

From Middle English tan, from Old French tan (“tanbark”), from Gaulish *tannos (“green oak”) – compare Breton tann (“red oak”), Old Cornish tannen –, from Proto-Celtic *tannos (“green oak”), of uncertain origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(s)dʰonu (“fir”). Per this hypothesis, related to Hittite [script needed] (tanau, “fir”), Latin femur, genitive feminis (“thigh”), German Tann (“woods”), Tanne (“fir”), Albanian thanë (“cranberry bush”), Ancient Greek θάμνος (thámnos, “thicket”), Avestan 𐬚𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (θanuuar^ə), Sanskrit धनु (dhánu).

Synonyms

suntanned tanned picul particularly in Cantonese contexts

Related words

nontan tannic acid tannin tawny mistletoe on the ran tan sar tan se juda TAN syndrome

Derived words

catch a tan farmer's tan flowers of tan gyle tan permatan spray tan suntan tan balls tan bed tan heat tan line tan liquor tannist tan ride tantoo tan track truck driver's tan tanbark black and tan overtan pretan retan spray-tan tanaholic tanner tannery tanoak tan out tan someone's hide tan up

Translations

Arabic: حِنْطِيّ Arabic: قَمْحِيُّ اللَّوْن Bulgarian: жълтокафяв Catalan: bronze Catalan: colrat Catalan: torrat German: hellbraun German: loh German: lohfarben Hungarian: sárgásbarna Indonesian: sawo matang Irish: crón Irish: buí Latvian: dzeltenbrūns Persian: خرمائی روشن Persian: مازویی Romanian: cafeniu Spanish: bronce Spanish: tostado Turkish: bronz Turkish: taba rengi Welsh: melynddu
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