What does "pan" mean?
Ellipsis of Peter Pan.
Pan
/pæn/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Ellipsis of Peter Pan.
- Grammar: pan is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: ashpan, ashtoreth, astarte, baal.
- Useful contrasts: bowl, cauldrons, commend.
- Usage evidence: Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
How to use "pan"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "pan" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "pan" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "pan" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "pan" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "pan" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "ashpan" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "pan", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Ellipsis of Peter Pan. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 2 Acronym of primary account number. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable
- 3 A wide, flat receptacle used around the house, especially for cooking.
- 4 A sequence in a film in which the camera pans over an area.
"For instance, in the film Dances with Wolves, a pan of an uninhabited landscape contrasts the gruesome beginning footage that depicts the carnage of war."
- 5 Alternative form of paan. alt-of, alternative, uncountable
Show 32 more definitions
- 6 A part; a portion.
- 7 Clipping of pantograph. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal
- 8 shallow container made of metal wordnet
- 9 Acronym of personal area network. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable
- 10 The contents of such a receptacle.
- 11 The distance comprised between the angle of the epaule and the flanked angle.
- 12 cooking utensil consisting of a wide metal vessel wordnet
- 13 Initialism of polyacrylonitrile. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 14 A cylindrical receptacle about as tall as it is wide, with one long handle, usually made of metal, used for cooking in the home.
- 15 A leaf of gold or silver.
- 16 Initialism of peroxyacetyl nitrate. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 17 A deep plastic receptacle, used for washing or food preparation; a basin. Ireland
- 18 Initialism of phenylacetonitrile. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 19 A wide receptacle in which gold grains are separated from gravel by washing the contents with water.
- 20 An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially; A pond or lake, considered as the expanse of land upon which the water sits.
- 21 An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially; A dry lake or playa, especially a salt flat. South-Africa, especially
- 22 An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially; Synonym of playa lake: a temporary pond or lake in a playa. South-Africa
- 23 An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially; Ellipsis of salt pan: a flat artificial pond used for collecting minerals from evaporated water. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 24 Ellipsis of hardpan: a hard substrate such as is formed in pans. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 25 Synonym of pipe: a channel for lava within a volcano; the cylindrical remains of such channels. South-Africa, obsolete
- 26 Strong adverse criticism.
"The notices The Gallery received, while hardly pans, were only mixed."
- 27 A loaf of bread; a pan-loaf. Ireland
- 28 The chamber pot in a close stool; (now) the base of a toilet, consisting of the bowl and its support. obsolete
- 29 A bedpan.
"1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure She yanks the pan out from under me & it spills all over the bed. Then she's got to change the sheets! Unreal."
- 30 A human face, a mug. slang
""He's a foreign-looking guy with thinnish black hair and a meaty sort of pan.""
- 31 The bottom flat part of a roofing panel that is between the ribs of the panel.
- 32 A closed vessel for boiling or evaporating as part of manufacture; a vacuum pan.
- 33 The part of a flintlock that holds the priming.
"flash in the pan"
- 34 The skull, considered as a vessel containing the brain; the brainpan.
- 35 The brain, seen as one's intellect. figuratively
"14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: The Friar's Tale, Unto the devil rough and black of hue Give I thy body and my pan also.""
- 36 A recess, or bed, for the leaf of a hinge.
- 37 Ellipsis of steelpan. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
"The steel band transforms the people who play in it and dance to it, and fosters links between them. […] He learned to play the pan and filled in for absent members."
Verb
- 1 To wash in a pan (of earth, sand etc. when searching for gold). transitive
"We […] witnessed the process of cleaning up and panning out, which is the last process of separating the pure gold from the fine dirt and black sand."
- 2 (of a camera) To turn horizontally. intransitive
"Later today in Finsbury Park, the cameras would spend hours panning across 35,000 festivalgoers in search of pickpockets, drunken brawlers, and other assorted agents of petty mischief."
- 3 To join or fit together; to unite.
"31 May 1884, Leeds Mercury Pan it down—press an article into its proper place"
- 4 express a totally negative opinion of wordnet
- 5 To disparage; to belittle; to put down; to harshly criticize, especially a work (book, movie, etc.) transitive
"Matt Damon, who compared the advent of virtual money to the development of aviation and spaceflight in a critically panned but widely seen Crypto.com ad last year, did not respond to requests to weigh in."
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 To move the camera lens angle while continuing to expose the film, enabling a contiguous view and enrichment of context. In still-photography large-group portraits the film usually remains on a horizontal fixed plane as the lens and/or the film holder moves to expose the film laterally. The resulting image may extend a short distance laterally or as great as 360° from the point where the film first began to be exposed. intransitive
"As one can only "pan" at 90 deg. to the direction of movement of the subject, a compromise has to be reached when shooting at more conventional angles between a shutter speed high enough to arrest the forward movement of the subject and one low enough to blur the valve motion and wheels."
- 7 wash dirt in a pan to separate out the precious minerals wordnet
- 8 To turn out well; to be successful. intransitive
- 9 To shift an image relative to the display window without changing the viewing scale. intransitive
- 10 make a sweeping movement wordnet
- 11 To beat one's opposition convincingly. informal, transitive
- 12 To spread a sound signal into a new stereo or multichannel sound field, typically giving the impression that it is moving across the sound stage. transitive
- 13 (of a sound) To move in the multichannel sound field. intransitive
Adjective
- 1 Pansexual or panromantic. informal, not-comparable
"When she publicly acknowledged that she is pan, it educated citizens near and far on what that sexuality meant and the importance of being proud of who you are."
Proper Noun
- 1 Greek god of nature, often visualized as half goat and half man playing pipes. His Roman counterpart is Faunus. Greek
- 2 A surname.
- 3 A suburb of Newport, Isle of Wight, England (OS grid ref SZ5088).
- 4 The workhouse in St Pancras, London. UK, obsolete, slang
- 5 Abbreviation of Proto-Austronesian. abbreviation, alt-of
Show 1 more definition
- 6 An inner moon of the planet Saturn, notable for its equatorial ridge.
Example
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "pan"?
Common synonyms include: ashpan, ashtoreth, astarte, baal, bake, bakepan.
How do you use "pan" in a sentence?
Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
How do you pronounce "pan"?
Pronounced /pæn/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English Pan, from Latin Pān, from Ancient Greek Πάν (Pán).
Etymology 2
Shortening.
Etymology 3
From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ. Further origin uncertain. Alois Walde firstly suggests that it might be from Late Latin panna, from Latin patina (“broad, shallow dish, pan, stewpan”), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē, “kind of flat dish”), which is probably from Pre-Greek. But the sound shifting from /patina/ → /patna/ → /panna/ raises questions as -tn- to -nn- is rarely seen in Latin. The mainstream theory as of now (Friedrich Kluge, Julius Pokorny, Guus Kroonen) suggests that it is from Late Latin panna. But its sparse attestation only in the frontier inscriptions and not widespread in most Romance languages raises doubts among a few scholars (notably Michiel de Vaan), being skeptical about its origin, and open for any interpretations (Oxford English Dictionary). Vladmir Orel, in his work Albanian Etymological Dictionary, suggests that both Proto-Germanic *pannǭ and Late Latin panna could be from a non-IE Mediterranean substrate word, considering that classical Latin attestations are scarce and distributed in a specific region, and Proto-Germanic loanwords from non-IE substrates often include agricultural terms, seafaring vocabulary, or animal names. Although, this substrate hypothesis is controversial and most scholars remain skeptical about it. Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna.
Etymology 4
Clipping of panorama.
Etymology 5
Compare French pan (“skirt, lappet”), Latin pannus (“a cloth, rag”). Doublet of pagne, pane, and pannus.
Etymology 6
From Old English. See pane.
Etymology 7
Clipping of pansexual or panromantic.
Etymology 8
Clipping of pantograph.