nan

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

nan

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

• Wiktionary's coverage of Min Nan terms

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.

• IPA^(key): /næn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æn
• Homophone: NaN

nan (plural nans)

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

   We had my nan over for Christmas dinner.

See at naan.

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

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.

• ANN, Ann, Ann., ann, ann.

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *ŋajan.

nan

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

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

nan

1. leg

   Me nan ahono

   My leg is swollen

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

• nang

Compare Waray-Waray ngan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnan/

nan (Basahan spelling ᜈᜈ᜔)

1. (Sorsogon) and

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

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

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia)

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

1. (relational) dwarf

• planeta nan

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

• nanisme

• “nan” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “nan”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “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.

From Latin nōn.

nan (ORB, broad)

1. no

   Antonym: ouè

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

• IPA^(key): /nɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

nan

1. Informal spelling of non ; nah, nope

   Antonym: voui

nan

1. marks the preterite tense

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

• IPA^(key): /nã/

nan

1. the (definite article)

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

• a
• an
• la
• lan
• yo
• yon

nan

1. 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."

nan

1. Rōmaji transcription of なん

nan

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

Akin to Italian nano, ultimately from Greek νᾶνος.

nan

1. dwarf

• IPA^(key): /nan/

nan m anim (diminutive nancycko)

1. father

   Synonym: wóśc (literary)

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

• 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

nan

1. mother

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

From Proto-Algonquian *nya·θanwi.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnan/,

nan (initial root nan-)

1. five (in counting)

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

nan

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

• 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.

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

• IPA^(key): /nɑːn/

nan m

1. bread
2. food

   Synonym: xwarin

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”).

nan

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

Alternative dialectal variations besides nan often give the vulgar sense, even without the tê (“in”).

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

• IPA^(key): /nɑːn/

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.

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.

• Middle English: noon
  • Geordie English: nyen
  • English: none
  • Scots: nane

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaːn/

nān

1. Alternative form of nēn

nān

1. Alternative form of nēn

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

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.

nan

1. they, third person plural
2. their

• -nan

Borrowed from Latin nanus.

nan m (plural nani)

1. dwarf

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

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.

• 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.

• 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, Stirling, →ISBN, page 260

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

nan (+ dative, triggers eclipsis of a vowel)

1. in their

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

nan

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

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

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

1. bread
2. food

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

Upper Sorbian Wikipedia has an article on:

nan

Wikipedia ^hsb

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

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

nan m pers

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

   Synonyms: papa, rodźićel

• “nan” in Soblex

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 tʰrnaːɲ ("material used for weaving") (Suwilai, 2002) and Proto-West-Bahnaric *trnaːɲ ("thread"), whence Nyaheun nnaːɲ ("thread").

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key):
• (Huế) IPA^(key):
• (Saigon) IPA^(key):

(classifier sợi) nan

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

nan

1. (interrogative) how

• naka

• non
• nun

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

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: nan

nan

1. bread