nan
/næn/noun
nan is spelled N-A-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, nan means “Synonym of nursemaid” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of nan is nans.
How many letters and syllables are in nan?
| Letters | 3: N-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.1 times per million words; the 15,146th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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 nan?
Nan appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th 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 nan?
- US /næn/
- British /nan/
- /nɛn/
As a noun (“Alternative spelling of naan”): /næn/, /nɑːn/, /næn/.
Nan 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: En-us-nan.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with nan
Also written: naan.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with nan?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as nan from its last stressed vowel (/æn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ann.
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 nan
- nans plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nan mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
obsoleteSynonym of maid: a servant girl.
- 2
obsoleteslangSynonym of nancy: an effeminate male homosexual.
- 3
UKSynonym of nursemaid.
- 4
AustraliaCanadaIrelandUKSynonym of grandmother.
We had my nan over for Christmas dinner.
- 5
Alternative spelling of naan.
noun
- 1
radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter N.
noun
- 1
Acronym of not a number, applied to numeric values that represent an undefined or unrepresentable value, such as zero divided by itself.
noun
- 1
NMDA antagonist neurotoxicity.
- 2
Alternative form of NaN (not a number)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does nan come from?
From Nan, pet form of the formerly very common female given names Anne and Agnes. As a nursemaid and grandmother, a clipping of earlier nana, from nanny under the probable influence of mama, also from Nan. Compare Mary.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).