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Tan
Definitions
- 1 Yellowish-brown.
"a tan suit"
- 2 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."
- 1 of a light yellowish-brown color wordnet
- 1 A Chinese surname from Mandarin.
- 2 A Chinese surname from Hokkien.
- 3 Alternative form of Dan. alt-of, alternative
"The Tae ping camps commanded the Tan river which, flowing eastward, becomes further on the Wei, under which name it joins the Grand Canal at Lin tsing, on the northern side of the highest level of the Canal waters."
- 4 A surname from Vietnamese.
- 1 A light, brown-like colour.
- 2 An Armenian drink made of yoghurt and water similar to airan and doogh
- 3 Synonym of picul, particularly in Cantonese contexts. uncountable, usually
- 4 A twig or small switch. dialectal
- 5 Initialism of total acid number, the measure of a lubricant's or crude oil's acidity. See Total acid number on Wikipedia. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
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- 6 a light brown the color of topaz wordnet
- 7 A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.
"She still has a tan from her vacation in Mexico."
- 8 Initialism of transaction authentication number, in electronic banking. See Transaction authentication number on Wikipedia. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 9 ratio of the opposite to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle wordnet
- 10 The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.
"In two pints of water boil one ounce of tan, and a like portion of nutgall till reduced to a pint."
- 11 a browning of the skin resulting from exposure to the rays of the sun wordnet
- 1 The second cardinal number two, formerly used in Celtic areas, especially Cumbria and parts of Yorkshire, for counting sheep, and stitches in knitting. dialectal, rare
- 1 To change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun. intransitive, transitive
"No matter how long I stay out in the sun, I never tan, though I do burn."
- 2 To kill by gun, to shoot. Multicultural-London-English, slang, transitive
"Step on the wing, see an opp and I'll whack it Do it like Super Savage Who's the yute I Jet-Li-rise that dots and tan him (whoosh) Rise that dots and tan him"
- 3 get a tan, from wind or sun wordnet
- 4 To change an animal hide into leather by soaking it in tannic acid. transitive
- 5 treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather wordnet
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- 6 To work as a tanner. stative, transitive
- 7 To spank or beat. informal, transitive
""Well, go 'long and play; but mind you get back some time in a week, or I'll tan you.""
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).
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).
Borrowed from Cantonese 擔／担 (daam3).
From Middle English *tan, from Old English tān (“twig, shoot, switch”), from Proto-West Germanic *tain, from Proto-Germanic *tainaz (“rod, twig, straw, lot”).
It may either be a figurative use of the usual verb tan (“to cause to acquire a brownish colour”) or a Jamaican Creole pronunciation of turn, compare bun (“to kill particularly by gunshot”).
From Mandarin 譚／谭 (Tán).
From Hokkien 陳 /陈 (Tân). Doublet of Chen and Tran.
From Mandarin 丹 (Dān), reinforced by Wade-Giles romanization: Tan¹.
See also for "tan"
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