Roan or rowan?
roan is an adjective meaning “Having a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in”; rowan is a noun meaning “Sorbus aucuparia, the European rowan”. Use roan as an adjective and rowan as a noun (roan is also a noun: “An animal (such as a horse) that has a coat of a dark base…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) rowan is about 4.0 times as common as roan.
What is the difference between roan and rowan?
| roan | rowan | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun | noun |
| Meaning | Having a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in Made of roan (kind of leather) An animal (such as a horse) that has a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in | Sorbus aucuparia, the European rowan Any of various small deciduous trees or shrubs of genus Sorbus, belonging to the rose family, with pinnate leaves, corymbs of white flowers, and usually with… |
| Example | roan binding | none recorded |
| Forms | none | rowans |
| Pronunciation | /ɹəʊn/ /ɹoʊn/ /ˈɹoʊ.ən/ | /ˈɹəʊ.ən/ /ˈɹaʊ.ən/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | 2.1 times per million words |
Sources: roan and rowan in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of roan and rowan
roan
- 1
Having a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in
- 2
An animal (such as a horse) that has a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in
- 3
Made of roan (kind of leather)
roan binding
- 4
The color of such an animal
- 5
A kind of leather used for slippers, bookbinding, etc., made from sheepskin, tanned with sumac and colored to imitate ungrained morocco
rowan
- 1
Sorbus aucuparia, the European rowan
- 2
Alternative form of rowen (“aftermath”)
- 3
ScotlanddatedDated form of roving (“an elongate bundle of fiber”)
- 4
Any of various small deciduous trees or shrubs of genus Sorbus, belonging to the rose family, with pinnate leaves, corymbs of white flowers, and usually with orange-red berries
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, roan or rowan?
roan appears about once in every 2 million words; rowan 2.1 times per million words.
roan about once in every 2 million wordsrowan 2.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).