wan

See also Appendix:Variations of "wan"

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English, from Old English ƿann (“dark, dusky”), from Proto-Germanic *wannaz (“dark, swart”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Old Frisian wann, wonn (“dark”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒn

Adjective

wan (comparative wanner, superlative wannest)

1. Pale, sickly-looking.
   • 1921, Edgar Rice Burrows, The Efficiency Expert^[1], edition HTML, The Gutenberg Project, published 2012:

     She looked wan and worried, ...

2. Dim, faint.
   • 1909, Robert W. Service, “The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike”, in Ballads of a Cheechako:

     ’twas so far away, that evil day when I prayed to the Prince of Gloom / For the savage strength and the sullen length of life to work his doom. / Nor sign nor word had I seen or heard, and it happed so long ago; / My youth was gone and my memory wan, and I willed it even so.

3. Bland, uninterested.

   A wan expression

Translations

pale, sickly-looking

• Finnish: kelmeä (fi), kalmea (fi), riutunut (fi)
• French: blême (fr), pâlot (fr), pâlotte (fr)
• Hungarian: sápadt (hu)
• Icelandic: fölur (is)

• Japanese: 青ざめた (ja) (aozameta)
• Russian: бледный (ru) (blédnyj) m
• Scottish Gaelic: bàn-ghlas (gd)

dim, faint

• Finnish: kelmeä (fi)
• French: blafard (fr), blafarde (fr) (of a light, for example)

• German: fahl (de)
• Hungarian: halvány (hu)

bland, uninterested

• Finnish: vaisu (fi)

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Verb

wan

1. (obsolete) simple past tense and past participle of win

Anagrams

• awn, NWA

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Dutch

Verb

wan

1. first-person singular present indicative of wannen
2. imperative of wannen

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Gothic

Romanization

wan

1. See 𐍅𐌰𐌽

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Mandarin

Romanization

wan

1. Nonstandard spelling of wān.
2. Nonstandard spelling of wán.
3. Nonstandard spelling of wǎn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of wàn.

Usage notes

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

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Nigerian Pidgin

Etymology

From English want.

Verb

wan

1. want, want to

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Old English

Alternative forms

• wann

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wɑn/

Verb

wan

1. Third-person singular of winnan

   Grendel wan hwile wið Hroþgar. Grendel long fought against Hrothgar. (Beowulf ll. 151-2)

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Scots

Numeral

wan

1. (West Central Scots) one.

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Sranan Tongo

Etymology 1

From English one.

Number

wan

1. (cardinal) one

Etymology 2

From English want.

Verb

wan

1. to want

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Tok Pisin

Etymology

English one

Noun

wan

1. The number one.
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 1:5 (translation here):

     Tulait em i kolim “De,” na tudak em i kolim “Nait.” Nait i go pinis na moning i kamap. Em i de namba wan.

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Numeral

wan

1. One. Used with units of measurement and in times: wan aua, wan klok. See also wanpela.