flan
/flæn/
"flan" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“flan” is an uncommon English word, ranked #54,181 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #54,181
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A baked tart with a sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | flan |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /flæn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #54,181 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “flan” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for flan is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /flæn/. Corpus data places it at rank #54,181 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
flan doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 (“… The correct English form is flan, spelled F-L-A-N.
Definition
- 1A baked tart with a sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case.
- 2A dessert of congealed custard, often topped with caramel, especially popular in Spanish-speaking countries.
- 3A coin die.
Etymology
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. Although the -n is generally believed to derive from the Late Latin accusative form (fladonem) of fladō (“flat cake”), it might alternatively derive from an inflected form of the Frankish word (such as the Frankish accusative *flaþan, or the like). For a similar case, see garden.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “flan”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-L-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /flæn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.