tan

pronunciation

How to pronounce tan in British English: UK [tæn] word uk audio image

How to pronounce tan in American English: US [tæn] word us audio image

Noun:

a browning of the skin resulting from exposure to the rays of the sun
a light brown
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

Word Origin

tan: tan: [OE] Tan was borrowed into late Old English from the medieval Latin verb tannāre. This was derived from tannum ‘oak bark’ (oak bark is used in tanning leather), which itself was probably a loan-word from Gaulish tanno- ‘oak’. The French noun tan ‘tan’ came ultimately from the same Latin source. From it was derived tanin, acquired by English as tannin [19]; and its immediate Old French predecessor formed the basis of an adjective tané ‘tancoloured, dark’, whose Anglo-Norman version tauné gave English tawny [14].=> tannin, tawny

tan (v.): late Old English tannian "to convert hide into leather" (by steeping it in tannin), from Medieval Latin tannare "tan, dye a tawny color" (c.900), from tannum "crushed oak bark," used in tanning leather, probably from a Celtic source (such as Breton tann "oak tree"). The meaning "make brown by exposure to the sun" (as tanning does to hides) first recorded 1520s; intransitive sense also from 1520s. Of persons, not considered an attractive feature until 20c.; in Shakespeare, "to deprive of the freshness and beauty of youth" (Sonnet CXV). As an adjective from 1620s. To tan (someone's) hide in the figurative sense is from 1660s. Related: Tanned; tanning. German Tanne "fir tree" (as in Tannenbaum) might be a transferred meaning from the same Celtic source.

tan (n.): "bronze color imparted to skin by exposure to sun," 1749, see tan (v.). Earlier as "substance made of crushed bark used in making leather" (c. 1600). As a simple name for a brownish color, in any context, it is recorded from 1888. The adjective meaning "of the color of tanned leather" is recorded from 1660s. Tan-line attested from 1979.

2. Mr. tan of the castle avenue group speaks cantonese , mandarin and the hokkien dialect .

3. Ms tan 's mother died , posthumously revealing secrets that she had spent a lifetime hiding .

4. Mr tan does not see any threat to his business from next year 's arrival of diverted water .

5. Mr. tan said if a scene like the one in the painting could be found in henan , he would create music for the show .