nan

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

nan (plural nans)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of maid: a servant girl. [1599]
2. (slang, obsolete) Synonym of nancy: an effeminate male homosexual. [1670]
3. (Britain, affectionate) Synonym of nursemaid. [1940]
4. (Britain, affectionate) Synonym of grandmother. [1955]

   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

• ANN, Ann, Ann., ann, ann.

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.

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

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈnan/

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

1. (attributive) dwarf

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.
• “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.

• (Savoyard dialect) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑ/
• (Bressan dialect) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔ̃/

nan

1. no

• ouè

nan

1. no

• ouè

nan

1. (informal) nah, nope

• non (standard French)

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

nan

1. dwarf

nan

1. Rōmaji transcription of なん

From Middle Persian LHMA (nān, “bread, food”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɑːn/

nan m

1. bread
2. food

• (food): xwarin

nan

1. to fuck, to copulate, to have sex with

• IPA^(key): /nan/

nan m (diminutive nancycko)

1. father

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

nan (Zhuyin ˙ㄋㄢ)

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

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

• IPA^(key): /nɑːn/, [nɑːn]

From ne (“not”) +‎ ān (“one”)

nān

1. no; not a, not one, not any

   nān mann

   no one (literally "no person")

   nān þing

   nothing

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Þæt word willan næfþ nān bebēodendlīċ, for þām þe se 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 þā tōweardnesse fōrecweðan.

   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.

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 it's 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, Edo and Saotome in the African countries of Sao Tomé, Angola and Nigeria (see Bartens and Schuchardt). All very improbably.

nan

1. they, third person plural
2. their

• -nan

nan

1. if (subjunctive)

   Nan robh mi beartach, b'urrainn dhomh cheannaich taigh-mòr. - If I were rich, I could buy a mansion.

2. whether (subjunctive)

   Biodh 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.

nan

1. in their

   Bha iad nan cadal. - They were sleeping (literally They were in their sleep).

• Before words beginning with b, f, m or p, the form nam is used instead.

nan

1. the

• This form is used in the genitive plural.
• Before words beginning with b, f, m or p, the form nam is used instead.

• an
• na
• nad
• nam
• nar
• nur

nan m

1. father

According to Ferlus (2009), from *t-rn-aːɲ, with nominalizer -rn- infixed into Proto-Vietic *taːɲ (whence đan (“to weave”)). Further from Proto-Mon-Khmer *t₁aaɲ.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [naːn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [naːŋ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [naːŋ˧˧]

nan

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

nan

1. (interrogative) how

• naka

• IPA^(key): [ˈnɑn]
• Hyphenation: nan

Compare Middle Persian LHMA (nān, “bread, food”)

• non
• nun

nan m

1. bread