flan
/flɑn/noun, verb
flan is spelled F-L-A-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,192nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, flan means “A baked tart with a sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of flan is flans.
How many letters and syllables are in flan?
| Letters | 4: F-L-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 54,192nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is flan?
Flan appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,192nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce flan?
- UK /flæn/
- British /flan/
- US /flɑn/
As a noun (“A fan of the U.S. TV series Firefly”): /flæn/.
Flan has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-flan.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with flan?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as flan from its last stressed vowel (/ɑn/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of flan
- flans plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- flanning participle, present
- flanned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does flan mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
AustraliaUKA baked tart with a sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case.
- 2
USA dessert of congealed custard, often topped with caramel, especially popular in Spanish-speaking countries.
- 3
A coin die.
- 4
informalslangA fan of the U.S. TV series Firefly.
verb
- 1
To splay or bevel internally, as a window-pane.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Flan in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does flan come from?
Borrowed around 1846 from French flan (“cheesecake, custard tart, flan”), or in some uses (in reference to Spanish/Latin American flans) later from Spanish flan (itself from the French), both from Old French flaon (whence also Middle English flaon, flaun (“pie; cake”)), from Late Latin fladō (“flat cake”), from Frankish *flaþō (“flat cake”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“broad, flat”); compare German Fladen. Akin to Old High German flado (“flat cake, offering cake”). Doublet of flathe.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).