duan

Name: duan, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

noun

By PlainSpell Editorial Team · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“duan” is an uncommon English word, ranked #60,041 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#60,041
frequency rank, English: 4
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A division of a poem, especially an epic poem or a Scottish poem; a canto.

Key facts for duan
Property	Value
Headword	duan
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
Letters	4
Frequency rank	#60,041
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “duan” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). duan lands here:

#60,041

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for duan is 4 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #60,041 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for duan, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Irish and Scottish Gaelic duan, from Middle Irish dúan, from Proto-Indo-European *dh₂p-no- (compare Old Armenian տաւն (tawn, “feast, celebration”), Ancient Greek δαπάνη (dapánē, “cost”), Old Norse tafn (“sacrificial animal”) and Latin damnum (“damage”)… The correct English form is duan, spelled D-U-A-N.

Definition

1
A division of a poem, especially an epic poem or a Scottish poem; a canto.
2
A poem or song.

Etymology

From Irish and Scottish Gaelic duan, from Middle Irish dúan, from Proto-Indo-European *dh₂p-no- (compare Old Armenian տաւն (tawn, “feast, celebration”), Ancient Greek δαπάνη (dapánē, “cost”), Old Norse tafn (“sacrificial animal”) and Latin damnum (“damage”)), from *deh₂p- (“to sacrifice”).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "duan"?

"duan" is spelled D-U-A-N.

What does "duan" mean?

As a noun, "duan" means: A division of a poem, especially an epic poem or a Scottish poem; a canto.

What is the origin of the word "duan"?

From Irish and Scottish Gaelic duan, from Middle Irish dúan, from Proto-Indo-European *dh₂p-no- (compare Old Armenian տաւն (tawn, “feast, celebration”), Ancient Greek δαπάνη (dapánē, “cost”), Old Norse tafn (“sacrificial animal”) and Latin damnum ... See the full etymology section above for more details.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “duan”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

The one correct English spelling is D-U-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.