tan

Meanings

Noun

• A yellowish-brown colour.
• A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.
• The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.
• An Armenian drink made of yoghurt and water similar to airan and doogh
• Synonym of picul, particularly in Cantonese contexts.
• A twig or small switch.

Adjective

• Of a yellowish-brown.
• Having dark skin as a result of exposure to the sun.

Verb

• To change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun.
• To change an animal hide into leather by soaking it in tannic acid. To work as a tanner.
• To spank or beat.

Origin

• Borrowed from French tan ("tanbark"), from Gaulish tanno- ("green oak") – compare Breton tann ("red oak"), Old Cornish tannen –, from Proto-Celtic *tannos ("green oak"), of uncertain origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰonu ("fir"). Per this hypothesis, related to Hittite, Latin femur, genitive feminis, German Tann ("woods"), Tanne, Albanian thanë ("cranberry bush"), Ancient Greek θάμνος ("thicket"), Avestan 𐬚𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆, Sanskrit धनु.
• As a verb, from Middle English tannen, from late Old English tannian ("to tan a hide"), from Latin tannare.
• From a Brythonic language; influenced in form by yan in the same series.
• Borrowed from Armenian թան.
• From the Cantonese pronunciation of 擔.
• From Middle English *tan, from Old English tān, from Proto-West Germanic *tain, from Proto-Germanic *tainaz.