tan
/tæn/ noun, adjective, verb, numeral, proper noun
Forms tans tanner tannest tanning tanned
- noun A light, brown-like colour.
- noun A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources. “She still has a tan from her vacation in Mexico.”
- noun The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.
- noun (Alberta) Synonym of wall ball.
- adjective Yellowish-brown. “a tan suit”
- adjective Having dark skin as a result of exposure to the sun or an artificial process intended to mimic this effect. “You’re looking very tan this week.”
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun. “No matter how long I stay out in the sun, I never tan, though I do burn.”
- verb (transitive) To change an animal hide into leather by soaking it in tannic acid.
- verb (transitive, stative) To work as a tanner.
- verb (transitive, informal) To spank or beat.
- numeral (dialect, rare) The second cardinal number two, formerly used in Celtic areas, especially Cumbria and parts of Yorkshire, for counting sheep, and stitches in knitting.
- noun An Armenian drink made of yoghurt and water similar to airan and doogh
- noun Synonym of picul, particularly in Cantonese contexts.
- noun (dialectal) A twig or small switch.
- verb (transitive, MLE, slang) To kill by gun, to shoot.
- proper noun A Chinese surname from Mandarin.
- proper noun A Chinese surname from Hokkien.
- proper noun A surname from Vietnamese.
Synonyms
wall ball suntanned tanned picul particularly in Cantonese contexts suntan sunburn burn topaz tangent bronze
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).
As a verb, from Middle English tannen, from late Old English tannian (“to tan a hide”), from Latin tannare.
From a Brythonic language; influenced in form by yan (“one”) in the same series.
Borrowed from Armenian թան (tʻan).
Webster’s 1913
- noun See Picul.
- noun The bark of the oak, and some other trees, bruised and broken by a mill, for tanning hides; --so called both before and after it has been used. Called also tan bark.
- noun A yellowish-brown color, like that of tan.
- adjective Of the color of tan; yellowish-brown. Black and tan. See under Black, a.
Etymology [Chin.]
Etymology [F. tan, perhaps fr. Armor. tann an oak, oak bar; or of Teutonic origin; cf. G. tanne a fir, OHG. tanna a fir, oak, MHG. tan a forest. Cf. Tawny.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tan”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details