nan

See also: Appendix:Variations of "nan"

Languages (28)

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

Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

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

Symbol

nan

(international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Min 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
Homophone: NaN

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]
(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)

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

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

leg
Me nan ahono
My leg is swollen

Bikol Central

Alternative forms

nang

Etymology

Compare Waray-Waray ngan.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnan/ [ˈn̪an̪]

Conjunction

nan (Basahan spelling ᜈᜈ᜔)

(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)

(relational) 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

Etymology

From Latin nōn.

Interjection

nan (ORB, broad)

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

Informal spelling of non ; nah, nope
Antonym: voui

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nã/

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^[1]:
  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

Linngithigh

Pronoun

nan

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

Lombard

Etymology

Akin to Italian nano, ultimately from Greek νᾶνος.

Noun

nan

dwarf

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nan/

Noun

nan m anim (diminutive nancycko)

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”)

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

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 (nân), 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

Etymology 2

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

Verb

nan

to put in, to set, to place
(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”).

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. 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

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

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 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

they, third person plural
their

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nanus.

Noun

nan m (plural nani)

dwarf

Declension

	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
	singular		plural
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

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

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^[2], Stirling, →ISBN, page 260

Etymology 2

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

Preposition

nan (+ dative, triggers eclipsis of a vowel)

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-

Etymology 3

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

Upper Sorbian Wikipedia has an article on:

nan

Wikipedia ^hsb

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

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

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

Wolof

Adverb

nan

(interrogative) how

Zazaki

Alternative forms

non
nun

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈnɑn]
Hyphenation: nan

Noun

nan

bread

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

Translingual

Etymology

Symbol

See also

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Noun

Anagrams

Acehnese

Etymology

Noun

References

Akan

Noun

Further reading

Bikol Central

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Conjunction

Catalan

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Derived terms

Noun

Derived terms

Further reading

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

Interjection

References

French

Pronunciation

Adverb

Fula

Particle

References

Haitian Creole

Pronunciation

Article

Usage notes

See also

Preposition

Japanese

Romanization

Linngithigh

Pronoun

See also

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

Etymology 2