Joanna

//d͡ʒəʊˈænə// name, noun, slang

name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A piano. Cockney, slang

    "2006, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" (song) by the Scissor Sisters But I don't feel like dancin' When the old Joanna plays"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A female given name from Latin [in turn from Hebrew].
  2. 2
    One of the women following Jesus.

    "[A]nd the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance."

  3. 3
    Obsolete spelling of Johanna (“the island of Anjouan”). alt-of, obsolete

Example

More examples

"Her sister Joanna was bright and slender as a lily."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From the name Joanna, which is a rhyme for the dialectal pronunciation of piano as /piˈænə/.

Etymology 2

From Latin Joanna, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doublets. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Jane, Janice, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shane, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena.

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