Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word an. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word an, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say an in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word an you have here. The definition of the word an will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofan, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
Following the doctrine of Lenin and Stalin, relying on the support of the great Soviet state and all the revolutionary forces of all countries, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people gained an historic victory a few years ago.
1972 May 28, 3:30 from the start, in President Nixon addresses the Soviet People live from the Kremlin, spoken by Richard Nixon, archived from the original on 22 December 2015:
We have agreed on joint ventures in space. We have agreed on ways of working together to protect the environment, to advance health, to cooperate in science and technology. We have agreed on means of preventing incidents at sea. We have established a commission to expand trade between our two nations. Most important, we have taken an historic first step in the limitation of nuclear strategic arms.
For more quotations using this term, see Citations:an.
(now quite rare)Used before one and words with initial u, eu when pronounced /ju/.
God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
(Can we date this quote?), John Mackay Wilson, Wilson's Tales of the Borders; Historical, Traditionary, and Imaginative, →OCLC, page 84:
My hopes, from my earliest years, have been hopes of celebrity as a writer- not of wealth, or of influence, or of accomplishing any of the thousand aims which furnish the great bulk of mankind with motives. You will laugh at me. There is something so emphatically shadowy and unreal in the object of this ambition, that even the full attainment of its provokes a smile. For who does not know 'How vain that second life in others' breath, The estate which wits inherit after death!' And what can be more fraught with the ludicrous than an union of this shadowy ambition with mediocre parts and attainments! But I digress.
After the case had been reported in the newspapers, Mrs. Gracindo de Souza, wife of a member of the local stock exchange, told police that she and her daughter had been driving down Alameda Sao Boaventura when they had seen an UFO hovering over the clearing where the bodies were later discovered.
1979, Jan Myrdal, translated by Ann Hening, The Silk Road: A Journey from the High Pamirs and Ili through Sinkiang and Kansu, New York: Pantheon Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 160:
An Uighur boy steps forward, carrying an instrument, a rahab. He sings a ballad: “We follow Chairman Mao.”
2010 March 22, Paul Taylor, “Greece Debates Revive Old European Fears and Resentments”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-04-03, Inside Europe:
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France is open to an European monetary fund but would want it to raise money cheaply on capital markets and lend it to needy euro-zone countries before they faced possible default.
2011, CaseBase: Case Studies in Global Business, →ISBN, page 144:
Second, according to an United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees in the Near East report (UNRWA, 2006) the initial design and drawings used by construction companies can be improved.
2019 November 21, “Don't miss the 'Mini Town' Christmas Lighting event”, in Aruba Today, →OCLC, page A16:
What does a small house, a lighthouse, a candy shop and toys have to do with an utility company? Find out this Friday November 22nd, 2019.
(nonstandard)Used before /h/ in a stressed syllable.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined vnto me, and heard my crie. 2 He brought me vp also out of an horrible pit, out of the mirie clay, and set my feete vpon a rock, and established my goings.
1693, Robert Morden, “Of China”, in Geography Rectified; or a Description of the World, 3rd edition, →OCLC, page 441:
The Province of Nanking, by the Tartars called Kiangnan, is the ſecond in honour, in magnitude and fertility in all China : It is divided into 14 great Territories, having Cities and Towns an hundred and ten; Nanking, or Kiangning being the Metropolis; a City, that if ſhe did not exceed moſt Cities on the Earth in bigneſs and beauty, yet ſhe was inferior to few, for her Pagodes, her Temples, her Porcelane Towers, her Palaces and Triumphal Arches. Fungiang, Sucheu, Sunkiang, Leucheu, Hoaigan, Ganking, Ningue, Hoeicheu, are alſo eminent places, and of great Note and Trade.
In standard English, the article an is used before vowel sounds, while a is used before consonant sounds. Alternatively, an can be found before an unstressed syllable beginning with an h-sound, as in an historic. The h may then become silent or is at least very weakly articulated. This usage is favoured by only 6% of British speakers, and is only slightly more common in writing.
Historically, an could also be found before one and before many words with initial u, eu (now pronounced with initial /juː/, /jʊ/, /jə/), such as eunuch, unique, and utility. This is because those initial letters were pronounced as vowels. In writing, an remained usual before such words until the 19th century -- long after these words acquired initial consonant sounds in standard English. This is still occasionally seen.
In the other direction, a occurs before a vowel, rarely, in nonstandard (often dialectal) speech and in its written representations. Example: "ain't this a innerestin sitchation" (Moira Young, Blood Red Road).
The various article senses of a are all senses of an.
^ Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage (2015, →ISBN, page 2: "Before words beginning with h the standard modern approach is to use a (never an) together with an aspirated h , but not to demur if others use an with minimal or nil aspiration given to the following h (an historic /әn (h)ɪsˈtɒrɪk/, an horrific /әn (h)ɒˈrɪfɪk/, etc.)." Fowler's goes on to source the 6% figure to Wells (third edition, 2008).
Thereupon, quoth he, "O woman, for sundry days I have seen thee attend the levée sans a word said; so tell me an thou have any requirement I may grant."
This is the same as the word a in such contexts, modified because of preceding a vowel sound (after an unpronounced h). The train was speeding along at a mile a minute.
direct marker for all general nouns other than personal proper nouns
Nagdalagan an lalaki pasiring sa baybayon.
The man ran towards the shore.
Kinakan kan ikos an sira. (Naga)
Kinaon kan ikos an sira. (Legazpi)
The cat ate the fish.
Usage notes
This particle is analyzed as the definite article (i.e., the) when used alone, and the indefinite article (i.e., a or an) when used with the numeral "saro".
“an” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
Bělá se tam, bělá žena, ana malé dítě nese. ― A white form can be seen there, a white woman who is carrying a child.
Vidíš-li poutníka, an dlouhou lučinou spěchá ku cíli, než červánky pohynou? ― Do you see a traveller hastening ere the twilight passes away across the long meadows towards a destination?
Usually used to refer to something being on a vertical surface, as opposed to auf, which usually points to a horizontal surface.
When followed by the masculine/neuter definite article in the dative case (i.e. dem(“the”)), the two words generally contract to am(“on the”) if not emphasized.
When followed by the neuter definite article in the accusative case (i.e. das(“the”)), the two words generally contract to ans(“on the”) if not emphasized.
D: Triggers lenition after de, do, and i (except of d, t), no mutation with idir, and eclipsis otherwise (varies by dialect); s lenites to ts; s always lenites with feminine nouns, even with prepositions that normally trigger eclipsis, but does not lenite at all with masculine nouns E: Triggers eclipsis H: Triggers h-prothesis L: Triggers lenition (except of d, t; s lenites to ts) T: Triggers t-prothesis
or rather, or on the contrary (where the opinion of the speaker or the probability inclines to the second interrogative clause, and this is made emphatic, as a corrective of the former)
or, or rather, or indeed, or perhaps (where, as is frequent, the first part of the interrogation is not expressed, but is to be supplied from the context, an begins the interrogation, but it does not begin an absolute – i.e., non-disjunctive – interrogation)
denoting uncertainty by itself, without a verb of doubting
(chiefly in and after the Augustean period)standing for sīve
where the first disjunctive clause is to be supplied from the general idea or where an stands for utrum or necne
Since in such distributive sentences expressive of doubt, the opinion of the speaker or the probability usually inclines to the second, i.e. to the clause beginning with an, the expressions haud sciō an, nesciō an, and dubitō an incline to an affirmative signification, “I almost know”, “I am inclined to think”, “I almost think”, “I might say”, “I might assert that”, etc., for “perhaps”, “probably”.
Sometimes the distributive clause beginning with an designates directly the opposite, the more improbable, the negative; in which case nesciō an, haud sciō an, etc., like the English I know not whether, signify “I think that not”, “I believe that not”, etc.
Usage notes
Used with utrum(“whether”) in the construction utrum...an(“whether...or”):
Nescio quid intersit, utrum nunc veniam, an ad decem annos.
I know not what matter it is, whether I come now or after ten years.
ăn in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
an in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
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.
In later non-Northern Middle English, a is usually found before vowels and /h/, while an is usually found preceding other consonants. However, an often occurs before any consonant in earlier Middle English.
In early Middle English, the indefinite article is often omitted; occasional omission persists into later Middle English.
Inflected forms of the indefinite article are sometimes found in early Middle English; see the inflection table below.
c.800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 112b13
Is demniu liunn a n-ad·chiam hua sulib ol·daas an ro·chluinemmar hua chluasaib.
What we see with the eyes is more certain for us than what we hear with the ears.
Hoàng Văn Ma; Lục Văn Pảo; Hoàng Chí (2006) Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội
Lương Bèn (2011) Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên
Lục Văn Pảo; Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003), Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội
1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 84:
an a milagh,
on the clover,
References
Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith
Note: except for yín, object pronouns have a high tone following a low or mid tone monosyllabic verb, and a mid tone following a high tone. For complex verbs, the tone does not change.