Cavan

//ˈkævn̩// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A unit of dry capacity approximately equivalent to 2.3 US bushels. Manila, Philippines, historical
  2. 2
    A unit of dry capacity equivalent to one and a half times or twice the Manila cavan.
  3. 3
    A sackful equivalent to 50 kilograms. Philippines, dated
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A county of Ireland.
  2. 2
    A surname.
  3. 3
    The county town of County Cavan, Ireland.
  4. 4
    A locality in the Yass Valley council area, south eastern New South Wales, Australia.
  5. 5
    A northern suburb of Adelaide in the City of Salisbury, South Australia.
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  1. 6
    A commune in Côtes-d'Armor department, Brittany, France.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Spanish caván, from Tagalog kaban as "Manila cavan", via Cebuano as the "provincial cavan".

Etymology 2

From Irish an Cabhán.

Etymology 3

Various origins: * Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Caomháin (“descendant of Caomhán”), a diminutive form of the personal name Caomh. * Borrowed from Cebuano Cavan, a surname of unexplained origin.

Related phrases

republic of ireland

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