tan

CEFRB1

/tæn/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A brown skin color caused by sunlight.

  2. 02

    verb

    To make skin darker by exposing it to sunlight.

Examples

  • I am going to try to get a good tan.

  • I was browned to a nice tan.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4
Synonyms
4

Also pronounced

  • [teːn]
  • /tan/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.

  2. The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.

  3. A light, brown-like colour.

More examples

In context

  • I'm hoping to get a tan this weekend at the beach.

  • She still has a tan from her vacation in Mexico.

  • Mine is the white car parked next to the tan pickup truck.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After a week at the beach, her skin began to blank under the bright sun.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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).