Joan

See also: joan and Jóan

English

Alternative forms

• Jo, Ione, Jone, Ioane, Joane (obs.)

Etymology

A clipped or hypochoristic form of Joanna, from Latin Joanna, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doublets. As a placeholder name, cf. similar use of John and Jack.

Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Jane, Janice, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shane, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʒoʊn/
• IPA^(key): /dʒəʊn/
• Rhymes: -əʊn

Proper noun

Joan

1. A female given name from French, a feminine form of John.
   • 1979, Margaret Atwood, Lady Oracle, p. 336:

     Maybe my mother didn't name me after Joan Crawford after all, I thought; she just told me that to cover up. She named me after Joan of Arc, didn't she know what happened to women like that?

Usage notes

Joan was the usual feminine form of John in the Middle Ages. It was superseded by Jane in the 17th century, but was again very popular during the first half of the 20th century.

Derived terms

• Joanie, Joany

Translations

female given name — see Jane

Noun

Joan (plural Joans)

1. (colloquial, obsolete or archaic) A placeholder or conventional name for any woman, particularly a younger lower-class woman.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, Loues Labors Lost, 1st Quarto, Act III, Scene i:

     Ber. O and I forsoth in loue, I that haue been loues whip?...
     Well, I will loue, write, sigh, pray, shue, grone,
     Some men must loue my Ladie, and some Ione.

   • 1606, Thomas Heywood, If You Knouu Not Me, You Know No Bodie:

     Joan’s as good as this French lady.

   • 1611, John Davies, "Vpon Englishe Prouerbs", Scourge of Folly, §386:

     ‘Ioan in the darke is as good as my lady:’
     Nay, perhapps better, such ladies there may bee.

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King Iohn, Act I, Scene i:

     Bast. A foot of Honor better then I was,
     But many a many foot of Land the worse.
     Well, now can I make any Ioane a Lady,
     Good den Sir Richard, Godamercy fellow,
     And if his name be George, Ile call him Peter;
     For new made honor doth forget mens names...

   • 1931, Arthur Melville Clark, Thomas Heywood, p. 12:

     ...when Henslowe notes Heywood's next play he has a little more respect for him; for, although the total was again but five pounds, three pounds on February 10, 1598/9 and the rest two days later, the dramatist on both occasions is Mr. Heywood. The only surviving fragment of the piece, ‘Jonne as good as my ladey’, may be a song in Γυναικεῖον with the burden 'What care I how faire she bee...

   • 2014, Antonia Senior, Treason's Daughter, p. 169:

     A wife. But what wife and when? Pretty, yes, but godly and modest. He remembers something Taffy said once: ‘A homely Joan is as good as a lady when the lights are out.’ Aye, Taf, he thinks, but best to marry one whose face you can worship. An image of Lucy Tompkins pops unbidden into his mind.

2. (fashion, obsolete or archaic) A kind of close-fitting cap for women popular in the mid-18th century.
   • 1756, Connoisseur, No. 134, p. 810:

     A grocer's wife attractd our eyes by a new-fashioned cap called a Joan.

Usage notes

Despite being a common noun, the word is still treated as a name and capitalized as such. In the 16th and 17th centuries, often with implications of plain appearance but sexual availability. In the 18th and 19th centuries, often with implication of rusticness.

Synonyms

• Jill, Jane

Coordinate terms

• Jack, John

Derived terms

• Joan's as good as my lady in the dark

Anagrams

• ajon

References

• “Joan, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2022.

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin Iohannes, from Ancient Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוחנן (Yôḥānān, “Yahweh is gracious”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ʒuˈan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ʒoˈan]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [d͡ʒoˈan]

Proper noun

Joan m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English John
2. (biblical) John
3. (biblical) John (book of the Bible)

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Danish

Proper noun

Joan

1. a female given name from English borrowed from English, popular in the 1950s and the 1960s

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Manx

Proper noun

Joan f

1. a female given name

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
Joan	Yoan	N'yoan
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Middle English

Proper noun

Joan

1. Alternative form of John

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Occitan

Etymology

From Latin Iohannes, from Ancient Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוחנן (Yôḥānān, “Yahweh is gracious”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒuˈan/, /ˈd͡ʒwan/

Proper noun

Joan

1. a male given name, equivalent to English John

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Yola

Proper noun

Joan

1. a male given name, variant of Jone
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Sank Joan is oor brover.

     St. John is our brother.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) 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, published 1867, page 28