Skip to main content
PlainSpell

tan

/tæn/noun, adjective, verb, number

tan is spelled T-A-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tan means “A light, brown-like colour” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tan is tans.

How many letters and syllables are in tan?

Letters3: T-A-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing10 times per million words; the 7,009th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 tan?

Tan appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th 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 tan?

  • US /tæn/
  • [tɛən]
  • British /tan/

Tan 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-tan.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with tan?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as tan from its last stressed vowel (/æn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: ant, nat.

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 tan

  • tans plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tanner comparative
  • tannest superlative
  • tanning participle, present
  • tanned participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does tan mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A light, brown-like colour.

  2. 2

    A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.

    She still has a tan from her vacation in Mexico.

  3. 3

    The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.

  4. 4

    Synonym of wall ball.

  5. 5

    An Armenian drink made of yoghurt and water similar to airan and doogh

  6. 6

    Synonym of picul, particularly in Cantonese contexts.

  7. 7

    A twig or small switch.

adjective

  1. 1

    Yellowish-brown.

    a tan suit

  2. 2

    Having dark skin as a result of exposure to the sun or an artificial process intended to mimic this effect.

    You’re looking very tan this week.

verb

  1. 1

    To change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun.

    No matter how long I stay out in the sun, I never tan, though I do burn.

  2. 2

    To change an animal hide into leather by soaking it in tannic acid.

  3. 3

    To work as a tanner.

  4. 4

    informalTo spank or beat.

  5. 5

    slangTo kill by gun, to shoot.

noun

as TAN
  1. 1

    Initialism of total acid number, the measure of a lubricant's or crude oil's acidity. See Total acid number on Wikipedia.

  2. 2

    Initialism of transaction authentication number, in electronic banking. See Transaction authentication number on Wikipedia.

number

  1. 1

    rareThe second cardinal number two, formerly used in Celtic areas, especially Cumbria and parts of Yorkshire, for counting sheep, and stitches in knitting.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Tan in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Portuguesepardo (colour), bronzeado (darkening of the skin), bronzear (to become tan due to exposure to sun), curtir (to turn animal hide into leather)
Spanishbronce, tostado (colour), bronceado, moreno (darkening of the skin), corteza de roble (bark of tree), bronceado (por el sol) (dark skin)
Frenchbronzage, hâle (darkening of the skin), bronzer (to become tan due to exposure to sun), tan (bark of tree), hâlé, bronzé (dark skin)
Germanhellbraun, loh, lohfarben (colour), Bräune, Sonnenbräune (darkening of the skin), braun (dark skin)

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 tan come from?

From Middle English tan, from Old French tan (“tanbark”), from Gaulish *tannos (“green oak”) – compare Breton tann (“red oak”), Old Cornish tannen –, from Proto-Celtic *tannos (“green oak”), of uncertain origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(s)dʰonu (“fir”). Per this hypothesis, related to Hittite [script needed] (tanau, “fir”), Latin femur, genitive feminis (“thigh”), German Tann (“woods”), Tanne (“fir”), Albanian thanë (“cranberry bush”), Ancient Greek θάμνος (thámnos, “thicket”), Avestan 𐬚𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (θanuuar^ə), Sanskrit धनु (dhánu).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after tan