Jan

//d͡ʒæn// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Obsolete form of jinn. alt-of, obsolete

    "He cast out the demons of possessed persons, and he bound the jân, wellah, in yonder corner."

  2. 2
    the first month of the year; begins 10 days after the winter solstice wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Abbreviation of January. abbreviation, alt-of
  2. 2
    A male given name from Hebrew. dated
  3. 3
    A female given name.

    ""Yes, Mommy," answered Janice. Then she turned to her friend and asked, "Shall I wear my light chintz and kenton kerchief, or my purple and white striped Persian?" "Sufficiently smart for a country lass, Jan," cried her friend."

  4. 4
    A male given name, equivalent to English John.

    "Jan Petter Vala is serving part of a 10-year murder sentence on a posh island in southern Norway."

  5. 5
    Alternative letter-case form of Jan (“January”). alt-of
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    A male given name from Dutch.

Synonyms

All synonyms
januaryjanuary

Example

More examples

"There will be an in-person meeting of the marketing subcommittee on Tuesday afternoon of Jan 27, 1999 at the San Francisco CA Airport Marriott."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Old French Jehan (“John”). Doublet of John.

Etymology 2

A clipping or hypochoristic form of Janet, Janice, Janine, Janis, etc. Doublet of Ivanka, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna.

Etymology 3

From various European languages, ultimately from Latin Johannes.

Etymology 4

From Arabic جَنّ (jann)

Related phrases

not happy, Jangiven name

More for "jan"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.