wan
English
Etymology 1
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Moonrise_over_snow_covered_mountains.jpg/220px-Moonrise_over_snow_covered_mountains.jpg)
From Middle English wan, wanne (“grey, leaden; pale grey, ashen; blue-black (like a bruise); dim, faint; dark, gloomy”), from Old English ƿann (“dark, dusky”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *wannaz (“dark, swart”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Old Frisian wann, wonn (“dark”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /wɒn/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /wɑn/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "obsolete" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /wæn/[2]
- Rhymes: -ɒn
Adjective
wan (comparative wanner, superlative wannest)
- Pale, sickly-looking.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pallid
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 42, page 116:
- Whome when his Lady ſaw, to him ſhe ran / With haſty ioy : to ſee him made her glad, / And ſad to view his viſage pale and wan, / Who earſt in flowres of freſhest youth was clad.
- 1839, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Beleaguered City”, in Voices of the Night, Cambridge, Mass.: Published by John Owen, →OCLC, stanzas 1 and 2, page 22:
- I have read in some old marvellous tale, / Some legend strange and vague, / That a midnight host of spectres pale / Beleaguered the walls of Prague. // Beside the Moldau’s rushing stream, / With the wan moon overhead, / There stood, as in an awful dream, / The army of the dead.
- 1921 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Efficiency Expert”, in All-Story Weekly, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “The Trial”, in The Efficiency Expert, [Auckland]: The Floating Press, 2011, →ISBN, page 188:
- She looked wan and worried, and then finally she was not in court one day, and later [...] he learned that she was confined to her room with a bad cold.
- Dim, faint.
- 1909, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Ballad of One-eyed Mike”, in Ballads of a Cheechako, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 52:
- ’Twas so far away, that evil day when I prayed 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.
- Bland, uninterested.
- A wan expression
- 1867 July 13, “Lieutenant Castagnac”, in Every Saturday: A Journal of Choice Reading, Selected from Foreign Current Literature, volume IV, number 80, Cambridge, Mass.: Printed at the University Press, Cambridge, by Welch, Bigelow, & Co., for Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, chapter II, page 35:
- My position in the midst of the general indifference was hard to bear ; my silence weighed upon me like remorse. The sight of Lieutenant Castagnac filled me with indignation, — a sort of insurmountable repulsion: the wan look, the ironical smile of the man, froze my blood.
- 2013, Carter Dreyfuss, chapter 1, in The Prince of Temple Square: A Murder Mystery, Tucson, Ariz.: Wheatmark, →ISBN, pages 8–9:
- Checking out her brother’s khakis, the gun propped in the corner, Olivia’s hiking boots and her wan expression, she wants to laugh. “Been hunting, I see.” Olivia’s face falls, as expected. Her brother’s obsession with guns and gross little expeditions appall her.
- 2014, Chris Angus, chapter 12, in Flypaper: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Yucca Publishing, Skyhorse Publishing, →ISBN:
- “I have to admit, I’ve been tempted a time or two to chuck everything to go live in a place like this [Bogda Peak, China],” he replied. / “What stopped you?” / He gave her a wan look. “Celibacy.”
Derived terms
Translations
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Noun
wan (uncountable)
- The quality of being wan; wanness.
- 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part III”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 47:
- And while we stood beside the fount, and watch’d / Or seem’d to watch the dancing bubble, approach'd / Melissa, tinged with wan from lack of sleep, / Or sorrow, and glowing round her dewy eyes / The circled Iris of a night of tears ; [...]
Etymology 2
Eye dialect spelling of one. Sense 2 (“girl or woman”) possibly as a result of the phrase your wan as a counterpart to your man.
Noun
wan (plural wans)
- Eye dialect spelling of one, representing Ireland English.
- (Ireland) A girl or woman.
- 1993, Elaine Crowley, The Ways Of Women, London: Orion, →ISBN:
- Then I’d tell myself there were plenty of oul wans and oul fellas in work who never got it and that I’d be lucky like them and escape. Only I didn’t. I don’t want to die.
- 2005, David McWilliams, The Pope’s Children: Ireland’s New Elite, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, →ISBN; republished as The Pope’s Children: The Irish Economic Triumph and the Rise of Ireland’s New Elite, Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2008, →ISBN, page 4:
- Growing up in Dún Laoghaire in the 1980s, I remember all the hard men were sinewy, scrawny lads, hence the local description ‘more meat on a seagull’. The reason was simple: they were undernourished. [...] The young wans, despite a couple of babies, were more or less the same, pinched, flat-chested and drawn.
- 2015, Kevin Maher, “A Yuletide Bender”, in Last Night on Earth, London: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN:
- He comes streaming out from under the stage, this time a feckin show-stopper, almost literally, because there’s eighty different acrobats above him, [...] for this mad New Year’s show that has no story at all, other than this wan in silky robes who goes out with this fella in silky robes, and they’re from different enemy tribes of lads and wans in silky robes, and when they find out, they have this huge, aerial, acrobatic donnybrook that ends when everyone wraps their silk around each other up in the air, and then lets it all fall down to the ground, where the audience are, to show them how we're all part of one big silky family, and not to be fighting in the future.
Etymology 3
An inflected form.
Verb
wan
- (obsolete) simple past and past participle of win.
References
- ^ “wan, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ Thomas Sheridan (1790) A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both with Regard to Sound and Meaning[1], volume 2, C. Dilly
Anagrams
Dutch
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Noun
wan f or m (plural wannen, diminutive wannetje n)
Etymology 2
Verb
wan
- (deprecated template usage) first-person singular present indicative of wannen
- (deprecated template usage) imperative of wannen
Gothic
Romanization
wan
- Romanization of 𐍅𐌰𐌽
Japanese
Romanization
wan
Mandarin
Romanization
wan
- Nonstandard spelling of wān.
- Nonstandard spelling of wán.
- Nonstandard spelling of wǎn.
- Nonstandard spelling of wàn.
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.
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English wann (“dark”), from Proto-Germanic *wannaz, of uncertain origin.
Adjective
wan
- wan (pallid, sickly)
- wan (dim, faint)
Alternative forms
Descendants
References
- “wan, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2
Noun
wan (uncountable)
- Alternative form of wane (“deprivation”)
Etymology 3
Adjective
wan
- Alternative form of wane
Etymology 4
Noun
wan (uncountable)
- (Northern) Alternative form of vein (“that which is vain”)
Etymology 5
Pronoun
wan
- Alternative form of whan
Etymology 6
Noun
wan (plural wanes)
- (Northern, Early Middle English) Alternative form of wone (“dwelling”)
Etymology 7
Noun
wan (uncountable)
- Alternative form of wane (“woeful state”)
Etymology 8
Noun
wan (plural wanes)
- Alternative form of wone (“choice”)
Etymology 9
Noun
wan (plural wanes)
- Alternative form of wayn (“wagon”)
Etymology 10
Verb
wan (third-person singular simple present waneth, present participle wanende, wanynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle waned)
- Alternative form of wanen
Etymology 11
Adverb
wan
- Alternative form of whenne
Conjunction
wan
- Alternative form of whenne
Etymology 12
Adverb
wan
- Alternative form of whanne
Conjunction
wan
- Alternative form of whanne
Etymology 13
Verb
wan
- Alternative form of wanne: singular simple past of winnen
- Alternative form of wonnen: plural simple past of winnen
Nigerian Pidgin
Etymology
Verb
wan
- want, want to
Noone
Noun
wan (plural boom)
References
- R. Blench, Beboid Comparative
North Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian winna, which derives from Proto-Germanic *winnaną.
Verb
wan
- (Föhr-Amrum Dialect) to win
Conjugation
infinitive I | wan | |
---|---|---|
infinitive II | tu wanen | |
past participle | wonen | |
imperative singular | wan | |
imperative plural | wan'em | |
present | past | |
1st-person singular | ik wan | ik woon |
2nd-person singular | dü wanst | dü woonst |
3rd-person singular | hi/hat/at want | hi/hat/at woon |
1st-person dual | wat wan | wat woon |
2nd-person dual | jat wan | jat woon |
1st-person plural | wi wan | wi woon |
2nd-person plural | jam wan | jam woon |
3rd-person plural | jo wan | jo woon |
perfect | pluperfect | |
1st-person singular | ik haa wonen | ik hed wonen |
2nd-person singular | dü heest wonen | dü hedst wonen |
3rd-person singular | hi/hat/at hee wonen | hi/hat/at hed wonen |
1st-person dual | wat haa wonen | wat hed wonen |
2nd-person dual | jat haa wonen | jat hed wonen |
1st-person plural | wi haa wonen | wi hed wonen |
2nd-person plural | jam haa wonen | jam hed wonen |
3rd-person plural | jo haa wonen | jo hed wonen |
future (skel) | future (wel) | |
1st-person singular | ik skal wan | ik wal wan |
2nd-person singular | dü skääl wan | dü wääl wan |
3rd-person singular | hi/hat/at skal wan | hi/hat/at wal wan |
1st-person dual | wat skel wan | wat wel wan |
2nd-person dual | jat skel wan | jat wel wan |
1st-person plural | wi skel wan | wi wel wan |
2nd-person plural | jam skel wan | jam wel wan |
3rd-person plural | jo skel wan | jo wel wan |
Okinawan
Romanization
Old English
Alternative forms
- wann, ƿan
Pronunciation
Verb
wan
- third-person singular of winnan
- Grendel wan hwile wið Hroþgar. ― Grendel long fought against Hrothgar. (Beowulf ll. 151-2)
Pipil
Pronunciation
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Relational
-wan
- with, in relation to
- Shiwi nuwan wan niweli nimetzilwitia ne nukal yankwik
- Come with me and I can show you my new house
Declension
Conjunction
wan
- and, but
- Shinechmaka yey pula wan chikwasen tumat
- Give me three plantains and six tomatoes
- Nikilwij ma timuitakan yalua wan inte walajsik
- I told her/him to meet yesterday but she/he didn't come
Scots
Numeral
wan
Sranan Tongo
Etymology 1
Number
wan
Etymology 2
Verb
wan
- Alternative form of wani
Tok Pisin
Etymology
Noun
wan
- The number one.
Numeral
wan
- One. Used with units of measurement and in times: wan aua, wan klok. See also wanpela.
Derived terms
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɒn
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English eye dialect
- Irish English
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:People
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɑn
- Dutch terms borrowed from Latin
- Dutch terms derived from Latin
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch feminine nouns
- Dutch masculine nouns
- Dutch nouns with multiple genders
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms
- Gothic non-lemma forms
- Gothic romanizations
- Japanese non-lemma forms
- Japanese romanizations
- Mandarin non-lemma forms
- Mandarin pinyin
- Mandarin nonstandard forms
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English uncountable nouns
- Northern Middle English
- Middle English pronouns
- Early Middle English
- Middle English verbs
- Middle English adverbs
- Middle English conjunctions
- Middle English non-lemma forms
- Middle English verb forms
- Middle English plural past forms
- Nigerian Pidgin terms derived from English
- Nigerian Pidgin lemmas
- Nigerian Pidgin verbs
- Noone lemmas
- Noone nouns
- North Frisian terms derived from Old Frisian
- North Frisian terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- North Frisian lemmas
- North Frisian verbs
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English non-lemma forms
- Old English verb forms
- Old English terms with usage examples
- Pipil terms with IPA pronunciation
- Pipil relational nouns
- Pipil terms with usage examples
- Pipil lemmas
- Pipil conjunctions
- Scots lemmas
- Scots numerals
- Scots cardinal numbers
- West Central Scots
- Sranan Tongo terms derived from English
- Sranan Tongo lemmas
- Sranan Tongo numbers
- Sranan Tongo cardinal numbers
- Sranan Tongo verbs
- Tok Pisin terms inherited from English
- Tok Pisin terms derived from English
- Tok Pisin lemmas
- Tok Pisin nouns
- Tok Pisin numerals
- Tok Pisin cardinal numbers