Wan

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -É’n

From Middle English, from Old English Æ¿ann ("dark, dusky"), from Proto-Germanic *wannaz ("dark, swart"), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Old Frisian wann, wonn ("dark").

Full definition of wan

Adjective

1. Pale, sickly-looking.
• SpenserSad to view, his visage pale and wan.
• Longfellowthe wan moon overhead
• 1921 , Edgar Rice Burrows , The Efficiency Expert Chapter , She looked wan and worried, ...
2. Dim, faint.
• 1909, Robert W. Service, Chapter , ’twas so far away, that evil day when I prayed to the Prince of Gloom
  For the savage strength and the sullen length of life to work his doom.
  Nor sign nor word had I seen or heard, and it happed so long ago;
  My youth was gone and my memory wan, and I willed it even so.
3. Bland, uninterested.A wan expression

Noun

1. The quality of being wan; wanness.
• TennysonTinged with wan from lack of sleep.

Inflected forms.

Verb

1. (obsolete)

   wan

   (past of win)

Anagrams

• awn, NWA