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Added 9 October 2026

tan

/tæn/ noun

Latin root: femur Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about tan at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A browning of the skin resulting from exposure to the rays of the sun.
A light brown the color of topaz.
Ratio of the opposite to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle.

verb

Treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather.
Get a tan, from wind or sun.

adjective

Of a light yellowish-brown color.

Origin

From Middle English tan, from Old French tan (“tanbark”), from Gaulish *tannos (“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 *(s)dʰonu (“fir”). Per this hypothesis, related to Hittite [script needed] (tanau, “fir”), Latin femur, genitive feminis (“thigh”), German Tann (“woods”), Tanne (“fir”), Albanian thanë (“cranberry bush”), Ancient Greek θάμνος (thámnos, “thicket”), Avestan 𐬚𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (θanuuar^ə), Sanskrit धनु (dhánu).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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