nan

See also: Appendix:Variations of "nan"

English

Etymology 1

From Nan, pet form of the formerly very common female given names Anne and Agnes. As a nursemaid and grandmother, a clipping of earlier nana, from nanny under the probable influence of mama, also from Nan. Compare Mary.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /næn/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -æn

Noun

nan (plural nans)

(obsolete) Synonym of maid: a servant girl. [1599]
(slang, obsolete) Synonym of nancy: an effeminate male homosexual. [1670]
(UK, endearing) Synonym of nursemaid. [1940]
(Britain, Ireland, Australia, Canada, endearing) Synonym of grandmother. [1955]
We had my nan over for Christmas dinner.

Etymology 2

See at naan.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /næn/, /nɑːn/
(General American) IPA^(key): /næn/, /nɑn/

Noun

nan (plural nans)

Alternative spelling of naan

Anagrams

ANN, Ann, Ann., ann, ann.

Acehnese

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ŋajan.

Noun

nan

name (word or phrase indicating a particular person, place, class or thing)

References

2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Bikol Central

Alternative forms

nang

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nan/

Conjunction

nan

(Sorsogon) and
Synonyms: asin, saka, buda, at, sagkod, tapos

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin nānus, from Ancient Greek νᾶνος (nânos).

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈnan/

Adjective

nan (feminine nana, masculine plural nans, feminine plural nanes)

(attributive) dwarf

Derived terms

planeta nan

Noun

nan m (plural nans, feminine nana)

(mythology) dwarf (a member of a race from folklore)
dwarf (a person of short stature, usually as the result of a genetic condition)
(folklore) in Catalan celebrations, someone who wears a large papier-mâché head

Derived terms

nanisme

Franco-Provençal

Pronunciation

(Savoyard dialect) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑ/
(Bressan dialect) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔ̃/

Interjection

nan

no

Adverb

nan

no

Antonyms

ouè

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nɑ̃/
Audio (file)

Adverb

nan

(informal) nah, nope
Synonym: (standard French) non

Fula

Particle

nan

marks the preterite tense

References

Oumar Bah, Dictionnaire Pular-Français, Avec un index français-pular, Webonary.org, SIL International, 2014.

Haitian Creole

Article

nan

the (definite article)

Usage notes

This word is used only when the preceding word is singular and ends with a nasal consonant.

Preposition

nan

in
- 2019 March 19, “Rankont ann Itali ant Anvwaye Espesyal Etazini ak Larisi sou Kriz Venezuela a”, in Lavwadlamerik‎:
  Anvwaye espesyal Etazini pou Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, ak vis-minis afè etranjè Larisi, Sergei Ryabkov, ap fè reyinyon nan vil Wòm ann Itali pou yo pale sou “sityasyon Venezuela kap agrave.”
  American Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliot Abrams and Russian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov are having a meeting in the city of Rome, Italy to speak about "the worsening situation in Venezuela."

Japanese

Romanization

nan

Rōmaji transcription of なん

Lombard

Etymology

Akin to Italian nano, ultimately from Greek νᾶνος.

Noun

nan

dwarf

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nan/

Noun

nan m (diminutive nancycko)

father

Declension

Declension of nan

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nan	nana	nany
Genitive	nana	nanowu	nanow
Dative	nanoju	nanoma	nanam
Accusative	nana	nanowu	nany, nanow
Instrumental	nanom	nanoma	nanami
Locative	nanje	nanoma	nanach

Coordinate terms

maś (“mother”)
syn (“son”)
źowka (“daughter”)

Makolkol

Noun

nan

mother

Malecite-Passamaquoddy

**Malecite-Passamaquoddy numbers ^(edit)**
	50
← 4	5	6 →
Cardinal: nan Ordinal: nanewey Adverbial: nanokehs Adnominal: nanuwok, nanonul

Etymology

From Proto-Algonquian *nya·θanwi.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnan/, [ˈnan˧˦]

Numeral

nan (initial root nan-)

five (in counting)

References

Passamaquoddy-Maliseet language portal
LeSourd, Philip S. (1993) Accent and Syllable Structure in Passamaquoddy, New York: Garland Publishing

Mandarin

Romanization

nan

Nonstandard spelling of nān.
Nonstandard spelling of nán.
Nonstandard spelling of nǎn.
Nonstandard spelling of nàn.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Northern Kurdish

Etymology 1

Akin to Persian ‎ (nān), See there for more.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nɑːn/

Noun

nan m

bread
food
Synonym: xwarin

Declension

Declension of nan

Definite masculine gender
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nan	nan
Construct	nanê	nanên
Oblique	nanî	nanan
Demonstrative oblique	wî nanî	wan nanan
Vocative	nano	nanino
Indefinite masculine gender
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nanek	nanin
Construct	nanekî	nanine
Oblique	nanekî	naninan

Verb

nan

to put in, to set, to place
to fuck, to copulate, to have sex with

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *nain, from Proto-Germanic *nainaz, equivalent to ne (“not”) +‎ ān (“one”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nɑːn/

Determiner

nān

no; not a, not one, not any
nān mann
no one (literally "no person")
nān þing
nothing
- c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English
  Þæt word willan næfþ nān bebēodendlīċ, for þon þe sē willa sċeal bēon ǣfre frī.
  The word 'to want' has no imperative, because the will must always be free.

Pronoun

nān

no one, nobody; none
Ūre nān ne mæġ tōweardnesse forecweðan.
None of us can predict the future.
- late 10th century, Ælfric, "The Nativity of St. Clement the Martyr"
  Þā cwelleras þā ġeopenodon þæt cweartern and nānne ne ġemētton.
  The executioners then opened the prison and found no one.

Declension

Declension of nān

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	nān	nān	nān
Accusative	nānne, nǣnne	nāne	nān
Genitive	nānes	nānre	nānes
Dative	nānum	nānre	nānum
Instrumental	nāne	nānre	nāne
	Plural
Nominative	nāne
Accusative	nāne
Genitive	nānra
Dative	nānum
Instrumental	nānum

Descendants

Middle English: noon
- English: none
- Scots: nane

Old Frisian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnaːn/

Determiner

nān

Alternative form of nēn

Pronoun

nān

Alternative form of nēn

References

Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

Papiamentu

Etymology

The third person plural pronoun nan (“they”) and the overall plural noun suffix -nan are unique for Papiamentu and cannot be found in any other language. According to Clements and Parkvall the pronoun nan and it's derived suffix -nan were introduced into the language just in the 1700s because of the grown need for a plural marking. Apparently before the introduction the need for a plural marking was not felt. Just like in other South American languages the suffix originated in the form "kas-nan" literally "house-they" (ac Lenz).

Compare the Curripaco Arawak suffix -na and the Dutch suffix -en.

Searches are being undertaken to find the African connections with the words "iran", "ene", "na", "nan", "inen" and "ane" in the languages Bini, Kwa, Anabonese, Bantu, Kimbundu, Angolar, Fa d'Ambu, Edo and Saotome in the African countries of Sao Tomé, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria (see Bartens and Schuchardt). All very improbably.

Pronoun

nan

they, third person plural
their

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin nanus.

Noun

nan m (plural nani)

dwarf

Declension

Declension of nan

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) nan	nanul	(niște) nani	nanii
genitive/dative	(unui) nan	nanului	(unor) nani	nanilor
vocative	nanule		nanilor

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

From Old Irish dïa n- (“if, when”) with irregular change of initial d- to n-. Cognate with Irish dá (“if”).

Conjunction

nan

if (subjunctive)
Nan robh mi beartach, b'urrainn dhomh taigh mór a cheannach.
If I were rich, I could buy a mansion.
whether (subjunctive)
Bhiodh gràdh agam air fhathast nan robh e beartach neo bochd.
I would still love him whether he were rich or poor.

Usage notes

Before words beginning with b, f, m or p, the form nam is used instead.
Only used in the conditional tense, otherwise ma is used.
The negative form is mura.

References

G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 día n-”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
MacBain, Alexander; Mackay, Eneas (1911), “na’n (na’m)”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Stirling, →ISBN, page 260

Etymology 2

Univerbation of an (“in”) +‎ an (“their”).

Preposition

nan (+ dative, triggers eclipsis)

in their
Bha iad nan cadal. ― They were sleeping. (literally, “They were in their sleep.”)

Inflection

Possessive declension of an

	Singular	Plural
First person	nam^L	nar^N
Second person	nad^L	nur^N
Third person m	na^L	nan^N, nam^{N 1)}
Third person f	na^H	nan^N, nam^{N 1)}
^L Triggers lenition; ^H Triggers H-prothesis; ^N Triggers eclipsis; ¹⁾ Used before b-, f-, m- or p-

Article

nan

inflection of an (“the”):
1. genitive plural preceding a consonant (excluding b-, f-, m-, p-)
2. genitive plural preceding a vowel

Declension

Variation of nan (definite article)
	Masculine			Feminine			Plural
	nom.	dat.	gen.	nom.	dat.	gen.	nom.	dat.	gen.
+ f-	am	an^L		an^L		na	na		nam
+ m-, p- or b-	am	a'^L		a'^L		na	na		nam
+ c- or g-	an	a'^L		a'^L		na	na		nan
+ sV-, sl-, sn- or sr-	an	an^T		an^T		na	na		nan
+ other consonant	an	an		an		na	na		nan
+ vowel	an^T	an		an		na^H	na^H		nan
^L Triggers lenition; ^H Triggers H-prothesis; ^T Triggers T-prothesis

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish نان‎ (nan), from Persian ‎ (nân).

Noun

nan (definite accusative nanı, plural nanlar) (archaic)

bread
food

References

Avery, Robert et al., editors (2013) The Redhouse Dictionary Turkish/Ottoman English, 21st edition, Istanbul: Sev Yayıncılık, →ISBN

Upper Sorbian

Noun

nan m

father

Declension

Declension of nan

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nan	nanaj	nanojo
Genitive	nana	nanow	nanow
Dative	nanej	nanomaj	nanam
Accusative	nana	nanow	nanow
Instrumental	nanom	nanomaj	nanami
Locative	nanje	nanomaj	nanach
Vocative	nan	nanaj	nanojo

Vietnamese

Etymology

According to Ferlus (2009), from *t-rn-aːɲ, with nominalizer -rn- infixed into Proto-Vietic *taːɲ (whence đan (“to weave”)).

Formationally indentical but independently developed are Khmu [Rook] tʰrnaːɲ ("material used for weaving") (Suwilai, 2002) and Proto-West-Bahnaric *trnaːɲ ("thread"), whence Nyaheun nnaːɲ ("thread").

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [naːn˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [naːŋ˧˧]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [naːŋ˧˧]

Noun

(classifier sợi) nan

bamboo tape (for basketwork); bamboo slat (of a paper fan)

Wolof

Adverb

nan

(interrogative) how

Zazaki

Alternative forms

non
nun

Etymology

Akin to Persian ‎ (nān, “bread”), see there for more.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈnɑn]
Hyphenation: nan

Noun

nan m

bread

nan

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Noun

Anagrams

Acehnese

Etymology

Noun

References

Bikol Central

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Conjunction

Catalan

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Derived terms

Noun

Derived terms

Further reading

Franco-Provençal

Pronunciation

Interjection

Adverb

Antonyms

French

Pronunciation

Adverb

Fula

Particle

References

Haitian Creole

Article

Usage notes

See also

Preposition

Japanese

Romanization

Lombard

Etymology

Noun

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Coordinate terms

Further reading

Makolkol

Noun

Further reading

Malecite-Passamaquoddy

Etymology

Pronunciation

Numeral

References

Mandarin

Romanization

Usage notes

Northern Kurdish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Verb

Old English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Determiner

Pronoun

Declension

Descendants

Old Frisian

Pronunciation

Determiner

Pronoun