flan

Meaning

Noun

• Baked tart with sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case.
• A dessert of congealed custard, often topped with caramel, especially popular in Spanish-speaking countries.
• A fan of the U.S. TV series Firefly.

Origin

• Borrowed around 1846 from French flan ("cheesecake, custard tart, flan"), or in some uses (in reference to Spanish/Latin American flans) later from Spanish flan (itself from the French), both from Old French flaon (whence also Middle English flaon, flaun), from Late Latin fladonem, accusative of fladō, from Frankish *flaþō, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂t- ("broad, flat"), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- ("to spread out, be broad, be flat"); compare German Fladen. Akin to Old High German flado ("flat cake, offering cake"). More at flathe.
• Although the -n is generally believed to derive from the Late Latin accusative form (fladonem) of fladō, it might alternatively derive from an inflected form of the Frankish word (such as the Frankish accusative *flaþan, or the like). For a similar case, see garden.
• English, from a slip of the tongue by actor Nathan Fillion.