nan

See also: Appendix:Variations of "nan"

Languages (28)

Translingual • English

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Acehnese • Akan • Bikol Central • Catalan • Franco-Provençal • French • Fula • Haitian Creole • Japanese • Linngithigh • Lombard • Lower Sorbian • Makolkol • Malecite-Passamaquoddy • Mandarin • Northern Kurdish • Old English • Old Frisian • Papiamentu • Romanian • Scottish Gaelic • Turkish • Upper Sorbian • Vietnamese • Wolof • Zazaki

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

From Mandarin 閩南語 / 闽南语 (mǐnnányǔ, “Southern Min language”).

Symbol

nan

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Min Nan.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Min Nan terms

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
• Homophone: NaN

Noun

nan (plural nans)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of maid: a servant girl. [1599]
2. (slang, obsolete) Synonym of nancy: an effeminate male homosexual. [1670]
3. (UK, endearing) Synonym of nursemaid. [1940]
4. (British, Ireland, Australia, Canada, endearing) Synonym of grandmother. [1955]

   We had my nan over for Christmas dinner.

Derived terms

• nan flap

Etymology 2

See at naan.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

nan (plural nans)

1. Alternative spelling of naan
   • 2002, Desmond Barry, A Bloody Good Friday, page 157:

     Gerry ordered poppadoms and parathas and then he was interrupted by requests for vindaloos, chicken madrases and sag joshes, rice, raita and nan, from Priest, Morgan and Maria Grazia.

Anagrams

• ANN, Ann, Ann., ann, ann.

Acehnese

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ŋajan.

Noun

nan

1. 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.

Akan

Noun

nan

1. leg

   Me nan ahono

   My leg is swollen

Further reading

• Kotey, Paul A. (1998) Twi-English/English-Twi Dictionary‎^[1], New York: Hippocrene Books, →ISBN

Bikol Central

Alternative forms

• nang

Etymology

Compare Waray-Waray ngan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnan/ [ˈn̪an̪]

Conjunction

nan (Basahan spelling ᜈᜈ᜔)

1. (Sorsogon) and

   Synonyms: asin, saka, buda, at, sagkod, pagkan

Catalan

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈnan]

Adjective

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

1. (relational) dwarf

Derived terms

• planeta nan

Noun

nan m (plural nans, feminine nana)

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

Derived terms

• nanisme

Further reading

• “nan”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “nan”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “nan” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “nan” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

From Latin nōn.

Interjection

nan (ORB, broad)

1. no

   Antonym: ouè

References

• non in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
• nan in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

nan

1. Informal spelling of non ; nah, nope

   Antonym: voui

Fula

Particle

nan

1. marks the preterite tense

References

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

Haitian Creole

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nã/

Article

nan

1. the (definite article)

Usage notes

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

See also

• a
• an
• la
• lan
• yo
• yon

Preposition

nan

1. in
   • 2019 March 19, “Rankont ann Itali ant Anvwaye Espesyal Etazini ak Larisi sou Kriz Venezuela a”, in Lavwadlamerik‎^[2]:

     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

1. Rōmaji transcription of なん

Linngithigh

Pronoun

nan

1. we (but not you) (first-person non-singular exclusive nominative pronoun)

See also

Linngithigh personal pronouns

Person	Number (and clusivity)	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
First	Singular	ayong	ninh	thom	thon
	Dual inclusive	linggay	linh	linam	lingg
	Non-singular exclusive	nan	nanh	nanam	nangg
	Plural inclusive	puy	punh	punam	pungg
Second	Singular	tru	nanh	kom	kon
	Dual	poy	ponh	ponam	pongg
	Plural	irae	iraenh	iraenam	iraengg
Third	Singular	lu	ngonh	ngom	ngon
	Dual	lawuy	lawunh/lanh	lawunam	lawungg
	Plural	'ar	'anh	'anam	'angg

Lombard

Etymology

Akin to Italian nano, ultimately from Greek νᾶνος.

Noun

nan

1. dwarf

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nan/

Noun

nan m anim (diminutive nancycko)

1. father

   Synonym: wóśc (literary)

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”)

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “nan”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “nan”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Makolkol

Noun

nan

1. mother

Further reading

• Joshua Arlo, Indigenous language almost extinct, 2 September 2016, LoopPNG

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-)

1. 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

1. Nonstandard spelling of nān.
2. Nonstandard spelling of nán.
3. Nonstandard spelling of nǎn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of nàn.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Northern Kurdish

Etymology 1

Akin to Persian نان (nân), See there for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɑːn/

Noun

nan m

1. bread
2. 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

Etymology 2

Compare dialectals nian, nhan, niandn, nhandn, akin to Central Kurdish and Southern Kurdish نان (nan), Zazaki naene, Persian نهادن; equivalent to n- (“down”) +‎ dan (“to give”).

Verb

nan

1. to put in, to set, to place
2. (vulgar) to fuck, to copulate, to have sex with (with tê "in")

Usage notes

• Alternative dialectal variations besides nan often give the vulgar sense, even without the tê (“in”).
• The /ny/ part in the variation nian may create /ŋ/, a sound which doesn't appear in any other word in Northern Kurdish.

Old English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɑːn/

Determiner

nān

1. no; not a, not one, not any

   nān mann

   no one (literally "no person")

   nān þing

   nothing

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Assumption of St. John the Apostle"

     Iohannes þa gegaderode ðæra gymstana bricas, and beseah to heofonum, þus cweðende, "Drihten Hælend, nis ðe nān ðing earfoðe; þu ge-edstaðelodest ðisne tobrocenan middangeard on þinum geleaffullum, þurh tácen þære halgan rode; ge-edstaðela nu þas deorwurðan gymstanas, ðurh ðinra engla handa, þæt ðas nytenan menn þine mihta oncnāwon, and on þe gelyfon."

     John then gathered the fragments of the jewels, and looked to heaven, thus saying, "Lord Jesus, to thee nothing is difficult; thou didst restore this crushed world for thy faithful, through sign of the holy rood; restore now these precious gems, by thy angels' hands, that these ignorant men may acknowledge thy powers, and in thee believe."

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Assumption of St. John the Apostle"

     Iohannes þa bead ðreora daga fæsten gemænelice; and he æfter ðam fæstene wearð swa miclum mid Godes gaste afylled, þæt he ealle Godes englas, and ealle gesceafta, mid heahlicum mode oferstáh, and mid ðysum wordum þa godspellican gesetnysse ongan, "In principio erat uerbum, et uerbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat uerbum, et reliqua:" þæt is on Englisc, "On frymðe wæs word, and þæt word wæs mid Gode, and þæt word wæs God; þis wæs on frymðe mid Gode; ealle ðing sind þurh hine geworhte, and nis nān þing būton him gesceapen."

     John then ordered a general fast of three days; and after the fast he was so greatly filled with the spirit of God, that he excelled all God's angels and all creatures with his exalted mind, and began the evangelical memorial with these words, "In principio erat verbum," etc., that is in English, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God; this was in the beginning with God; all things are made through him, and without him nothing is created.".

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Assumption of St. John the Apostle"

     Nu wæs se bigleofa gemett on Iohannes byrgene, and nān ðing elles; and se mete is weaxende on hire oð ðisne andweardan dæg.

     Now this food was found in the grave of John, and nothing else, and the meat is growing in it to this present day.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Nativity of St. Clement the Martyr"

     Wēn is þæt ēower sum cweðe to him sylfum on stillum geðohtum, Hwæt forlēton has ġebroðru, Petrus and Andreas, þe for nēan nān ðing næfdon? ac wē sceolon on þisum ðinge heora gewilnunge swīðor āsmēaġan þonne heora ġestreon.

     It is to be expected that one of you in his still thoughts say to himself, What did the brothers, Peter and Andrew, leave, who had almost nothing? but in this case we should rather consider their desire than their possession.

   • 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

1. 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
  • Geordie English: nyen
  • English: none
  • Scots: nane

Old Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaːn/

Determiner

nān

1. Alternative form of nēn

Pronoun

nān

1. 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 its 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

1. they, third person plural
2. their

See also

• -nan

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nanus.

Noun

nan m (plural nani)

1. dwarf

Declension

Declension of nan

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	nan	nanul		nani	nanii
genitive-dative	nan	nanului		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

1. if (subjunctive)

   Nan robh mi beartach, b'urrainn dhomh taigh mór a cheannach.

   If I were rich, I could buy a mansion.

2. 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

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, 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^[3], Stirling, →ISBN, page 260

Etymology 2

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

Preposition

nan (+ dative, triggers eclipsis of a vowel)

1. in their

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

Inflection

Possessive declension of an

		singular	plural
first person		namL	narN
second person		nadL	nurN
third person	m	naL	nanN, namN 1)
	f	naH

^L Triggers lenition; ^H Triggers H-prothesis;
^N Triggers eclipsis; ¹⁾ Used before b-, f-, m- or p-

Etymology 3

Article

nan

1. 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	anL		anL		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	anT		anT		na	na		nan
+ other consonant	an	an		an		na	na		nan
+ vowel	anT	an		an		naH	naH		nan

^L Triggers lenition; ^H Triggers H-prothesis; ^T Triggers T-prothesis

Turkish

Etymology

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

Noun

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

1. bread
2. food

References

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

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnan/
• Rhymes: -an
• Hyphenation: nan
• Syllabification: nan

Noun

nan m pers

1. father (man who fathered one or more children)

   Synonyms: papa, rodźićel

Declension

Declension of nan (masculine hard stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	nan	nanaj	nanojo
genitive	nana	nanow	nanow
dative	nanej	nanomaj	nanam
accusative	nana	nanow	nanow
instrumental	nanom	nanomaj	nanami
locative	nanu, nanje	nanomaj	nanach
vocative	nano	nanaj	nanojo

References

• “nan” in Soblex

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˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [naːŋ˧˧]

Noun

(classifier sợi) nan

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

Wolof

Adverb

nan

1. (interrogative) how

See also

• naka

Zazaki

Alternative forms

• non
• nun

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈnɑn]
• Hyphenation: nan

Noun

nan

1. bread