Clipping of Danish dansk or English Danish.

dan

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Danish.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Danish terms

From Middle English dan, daun, dam (“lord”), from Anglo-Norman daun, daunz and Old French dan, dam, from Latin dominus. Doublet of don.

• IPA^(key): /dæn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æn

dan

1. (obsolete) A title of honour or respect similar to "master" or "Sir", used of historical and legendary figures of the past.
   • 1578, George Gascoigne, “A Moonshine Banquet”, in A Hundred Sundry Flowers:

     Dan Phoebus, he with many a low'ring look / Had her beheld in yore in angry wise.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene.[…], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Old Dan Geoffrey, in whose gentle spright / The pure well-head of Poesy did dwell.

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, dan Cupid.

   • 1748, James Thomson, The Castle of Indolence:[…], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar,[…], →OCLC:

     The patriarchal age, / What time Dan Abraham left the Chaldee land.

   • 1777, James Perry, The Electrical Eel; or, Gymnotus Electricus:

     He did—and in a moment press'd / The place—in Paradise the best, / As by Dan Moses said.

   • 1842, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, A Dream of Fair Women:

     Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath / Preluded those melodious bursts, that fill / The spacious times of great Elizabeth / With sounds that echo still.

   • 1846, Terence McMahon Hughes, The Biliad:

     Dan Neptune says that "ere a twelvemonth pass, / The Senate shall to Ireland go to grass."

   • 1962, A. D. Hope, The Ballad of Dan Homer:

     Oh, me' name is Dan Homer, I'm blind, as the Jews, / And I travels around with my head full av news.

• Dan

Uncertain.

dan (plural dans)

1. (mining) A small truck or sledge used in coal mines.

• corf

From Japanese 段 (dan).

• IPA^(key): /dæn/, /dɑn/
• Rhymes: -æn, -ɑːn

dan (plural dans)

1. A rank of black belt in martial arts.

   Hyponym: shodan

2. Someone who has achieved a level of black belt.

   Hyponym: shodan

From the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 担 (dàn) and Chinese 石 (dàn).

• IPA^(key): /dɑn/, /dæn/

dan (plural dans or dan)

1. (units of measurement) Synonym of picul: a traditional unit of weight and mass, chiefly used as a dry measure of grains.
2. (units of measurement) A traditional unit of equivalent volume, now officially equal to 100 liters.

Uncertain.

• IPA^(key): /dæn/

dan (plural dans)

1. A dan buoy.
   • 1913, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers: 1909-1982, page 165:

     Carrying away of 25 great-lines, 3 dans, buoys, &c., of steam liner 'Star of the East'[…]

   • 1917, United States. Office of Naval Intelligence, O.N.I. Publications, page 17:

     Dumping dans. Dan buoys laid to mark a dumping ground. They are fitted with a topmark in the shape of a St. Andrews cross formed by battens 2 feet in length. Live dan. Dan buoy for which a[…]

dan

1. Pronunciation spelling of than.
   • 2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport:

     It's easy. It's nothin'. It's less dan nothin'.

• -and, ADN, AND, DNA, NAD, NDA, and, and-, dna, nad

From Dutch dan.

• Audio:

  (file)

dan

1. then

dan

1. than

From French dent.

dan

1. (anatomy) tooth

From Proto-Common Turkic *taŋ.

• IPA^(key): [dɑn]

• Audio:

  (file)

dan (definite accusative danı, plural danlar)

1. dawn
   • 1924, Jafar Jabbarly, Ey dan ulduzu:

     Qaranlıq gecədə səni gözləyib,
     Durmaqdan yоruldum, ey dan ulduzu!
     Uzaq üfüqlərə göz gəzdirməkdən
     Az qala kоr оldum, ey dan ulduzu!

     I am weiry from staying awake, oh dawn star,
     As I've waited for you during dark nights!
     I nearly lost my sight, oh dawn star,
     From letting my eyes walk along distant horizons!

• danna (“tomorrow”)

• “dan” in Obastan.com.

• IPA^(key): [dã˦]

dan

1. to count
2. to sow

• IPA^(key): [dã˨]

dan

1. to pass beyond

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

dan

1. water

• Heinrich Aufenanger, The great inheritance in Northeast New Guinea: a collection of anthropological data (1975)
• Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)

Other scripts

Latin		dan
Ge'ez		ዳን (dan)

• IPA^(key): /dan/

dan (plural shan)

1. brother

• Reinisch, Leo (1887), Wörterbuch der Bilin-Sprache (in German), Wien, Austria, page 106

dan

1. water

• Cornelis L. Voorhoeve, Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist (1975, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics), page 128

dan

1. third-person plural present indicative of dar

From Middle High German dan, from Old High German dan, from Proto-West Germanic *þan (“then, at that time”). Cognate with German dann, English than. Doublet of dénne.

dan

1. (Sette Comuni) than

   Synonyms: bèdar, ken, kédar

   Ich limme libor diiza dan dòi. ― I'd rather take this than that.

   Dis is pessor dan des. ― This is better than that.

• “dan” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

dan

1. soft mutation of tan

• IPA^(key): [ˈdan]
• Rhymes: -an

Borrowed from Japanese だん (dan).

dan m anim

1. (martial arts) dan, master and teacher of judo, karate or other Japanese martial arts

dan m inan

1. (martial arts) dan, master degree in judo and karate

Borrowed from Latin Dania (“Denmark”).

dan m inan

1. (geology) Danian, stage of Paleogene

• And
• dna
• DNA
• nad

Compare Bonan dam, ultimately from Proto-Turkic *dām. Compare Turkish dam (“roof”), Uyghur تام (tam, “wall”), Salar tam, tām (“wall”).

• IPA^(key): /tɑŋ/

dan

1. wall

• IPA^(key): /dɑn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dan
• Rhymes: -ɑn

From Middle Dutch dan, from Old Dutch than, from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan.

dan

1. then, at that time (in the future)

   Morgen wordt het beter weer, maar dan moet ik weer naar mijn werk.

   Tomorrow the weather will be better, but then I must go to work again.

2. then, after that

   Eerst moet je je tanden poetsen, dan mag je naar bed.

   First you need to brush your teeth, then you may go to bed.

3. then, in that case

   Als het niet had geregend of gesneeuwd had, dan moet de auto toch veilig zijn.

   If it had not rained or snowed, then the car must still be safe.

The adverb dan is often used in Dutch after an imperative with a preceding conditional clause:

• Als u de tijd hebt, bezoekt u dan in ieder geval de haven.

  If you have the time, then be sure to visit the harbour.

• (in the past) toen

• nochtans

• Afrikaans: dan
• Berbice Creole Dutch: dana
• → Manado Malay: dang
• Negerhollands: dan
• Petjo: dan
• Skepi Creole Dutch: than
• → Sranan Tongo: dan
  • → Kari'na: dan

dan

1. than (in comparison)

   Ik ben ouder dan jij.

   I am older than you.

• als (non-standard)

• Afrikaans: dan
• Negerhollands: dan

dan

1. but, except

   Niets dan liefde.

   Nothing but love.

Borrowed from Japanese 段.

dan c (plural dans, no diminutive)

1. unit of grading proficiency of black belt or greater than black-belt in Japanese martial arts

• DNA

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaŋ/

dan

1. third-person plural present indicative of dèr

dan

1. water

• Frantisek Lichtenberk, Sequentiality-Futurity Links, Oceanic Linguistics 53:1 (2014), pages 61-91

Borrowed from Japanese 段 (dan), from Chinese 段 (duàn).

• IPA^(key): /dan/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

dan m (plural dans)

1. dan

• “dan”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

dan

1. third-person plural present indicative of dar

From French dent (“tooth”).

• IPA^(key): /dã/

• Audio:

  (file)

dan

1. tooth

• Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael (1993), Haitian Creole-English Dictionary‎^[1], Dunwoody Press, →ISBN, page 41

From Proto-Malayic *dahan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *daqan (“branch, bough”).

• IPA^(key): /dan/

dan

1. branch (part of plant)

• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*daqan”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /dan/ [dan]
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: dan

Inherited from Malay dan, probably clipping of Old Malay daṅan, or Proto-Malayic *dua(ʔ)-an.

dan

1. and (used to connect two similar words, phrases, et cetera)

Borrowed from Japanese 段 (dan).

dan

1. (martial arts) a rank in judo, karate and kenpo

• IPA^(key): /dan/^[1]
• Hyphenation: dan

dan

1. apocopic form of danno (“they give”)

dan

1. Rōmaji transcription of だん

From Alanic *dan, from Proto-Scythian *dān, Proto-Iranian *dáHnu, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dáHnu, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₂nu. Cognate with Ossetian дон (don), Avestan 𐬛𐬁𐬥𐬎 (dānu, “river”), Sanskrit दानु (dānu, “drop, dew”).

dan

1. water

• Fridrik Thordarson, Ossetic Grammatical Studies (2009)
• Magyarrá lett keleti népek (Viktor Szombathy, Gyula László; 1988), reproducing the only surviving wordlist

dan

1. water

• Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)

dan

1. in front of, before

dan

1. water

Takes various 'article' prefixes, such as la-dan (in the Madak dialect) and e-dan (in other Lamusong dialects).

• Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)
• Bob Lee, Noun Phrases in Madak

• IPA^(key): /dan/
• Rhymes: -dan, -an

dan (Jawi spelling دان)

1. and (used to connect two similar words, phrases, et cetera)

• dana, da

From Arabic ذَا (ḏā, “this, that”). The paragogic -n probably spread from the plural, where it originated by analogy with hawn (“here”) and/or with the plural ending -in (compare Algerian Arabic هادون (hādūn) alongside هادو (hādū)). Some earlier scholars instead suspected a connection with Aramaic דנה (dənā, “this, that”), but this was based on the widely obsolete theory of a Punic substratum in Maltese.

• IPA^(key): /daːn/
• Rhymes: -aːn

dan (feminine din, plural dawn)

1. this

• May contract with the following article: dan ir-raġel → dar-raġel (“this man”). The full form is commoner, however, except in expressions like dax-xahar (“this month”).
• The feminine singular contracts to di-, the plural to da- like the masculine: dil-ġimgħa (“this week”), das-snin (“these years”).

• dak
• hedan, hedak

dan

1. nonstandard spelling of dān
2. nonstandard spelling of dǎn
3. nonstandard spelling of dàn

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

From French dans.

• IPA^(key): /dɑ̃/

dan

1. in
2. within

From Old Dutch than, from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan.

dan

1. then, after that
2. then, in that case
3. thus, therefore

• Dutch: dan

dan

1. than (in comparisons)
2. other than (with negation)

• Dutch: dan

dan

1. contraction of dat +‎ ne

• “dan (V)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “dan (VI)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “dan (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

• dane, danz, daun, daunz, dawn
• (preceding labials) dam, dame, damp

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman daun, daunz and Old French dan, dam, from Latin dominus.

• IPA^(key): /dau̯n/, /dan/

dan (singular only)

1. A respectful term of address for a (male) scholar, noble, or cleric.
2. (literary, rare) A respectful term of address for a classical deity.
3. (rare) A male noble or member of the clergy.

• English: dan, Dan (obsolete)

• “daun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From English than.

dan

1. than

dan

1. than
   • 2025 April 23, Orla Guerin, “More dan 150 pipo injure as earthquakes shake buildings for Turkey Istanbul”, in BBC News Pidgin‎^[2], archived from the original on 13 August 2025:

     For 2023, two giant earthquakes bin destroy southern Turkey, e kill more dan 55,000 pipo.

     In 2023, two giant earthquakes destroyed southern Turkey, each killed more than 55,000 people.

• “dan” in Naija Guru, 2026.

From Old Frisian thīn.

dan (feminine and neuter din, plural din) (Föhr-Amrum, Mooring)

1. your, thy (second-person singular possessive determiner)

dan (feminine and neuter din, plural (Föhr-Amrum) dinen or (Mooring) din) (Föhr-Amrum, Mooring)

1. yours, thine (second-person singular possessive pronoun)

From Proto-Indo-Iranian *dádaHti, from Proto-Indo-European *dédeh₃ti, imperfective form of the root *deh₃-.

dan

1. to give, to grant, to provide with

dan

1. accusative/genitive singular of dat

From Old Norse danr, from Proto-Germanic *danaz.

• dane

dan m (definite singular danen, indefinite plural daner or danar, definite plural danene or danane)

1. Dane (only used in names)

• Danmark (“Denmark”)
• dansk (“Danish”)

Male given names:

Female given names:

From Middle Low German dān, past participle of dôn (“to do”). Akin to English done.

dan (neuter dant, definite singular and plural dane, comparative danare, indefinite superlative danast, definite superlative danaste)

1. eager
2. lustful
3. moved, impressed, especially by fear

• Eivind Vågslid (1988), Norderlendske fyrenamn (in Norwegian Nynorsk), →ISBN, page 77
• “dan” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “dan” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring

From Middle Low German dan, from Old Saxon than, from Proto-West Germanic *þan.

dan

1. then (sequential), after that

From Proto-Slavic *dьnь.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdan/

dan m ?

1. day

From Old Frisian than, from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan. Cognates include West Frisian dan and German dann.

• IPA^(key): /dan/
• Hyphenation: dan
• Rhymes: -an

dan

1. then (in that case)

dan

1. for, since
   • 2000, Marron C. Fort, transl., Dät Näie Tästamänt un do Psoolme in ju aasterlauwerfräiske Uurtoal fon dät Seelterlound, Fräislound, Butjoarlound, Aastfräislound un do Groninger Umelounde [The New Testament and the Psalms in the East Frisian language, native to Saterland, Friesland, Butjadingen, East Frisia and the Ommelanden of Groningen], →ISBN, Dät Evangelium ätter Matthäus 1:21:

     Ju skäl n Súun bere; him skääst du dän Nome Jesus reke; dan hie skäl sien Foulk fon sien Sänden ferleze.

     She will bear a son; you will give him the name Jesus; for he will free his people from their sins.

• Marron C. Fort (2015), “dan”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

• den (Kajkavian)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *dьnь (“day”).

• IPA^(key): /dâːn/
• Rhymes: -âːn

dȃn m inan (Cyrillic spelling да̑н)

1. day

   Dan obuke ― Training Day

• dánju
• dȍbar dȃn
• dan i noć

• dno

From Serbo-Croatian dan.

• IPA^(key): /dâːn/

dan m

1. day
   • 2010, Rino John Gliosca, Bonifacio en Amérique:

     E na dan, je čija baliže, e je vaza put za sa vrni doma.

     And one day he packed his suitcases and left to return home.

• Breu, W., Mader Skender, M. B. & Piccoli, G. 2013. Oral texts in Molise Slavic (Italy): Acquaviva Collecroce. In Adamou, E., Breu, W., Drettas, G. & Scholze, L. (eds.). 2013. EuroSlav2010: Elektronische Datenbank bedrohter slavischer Varietäten in nichtslavophonen Ländern Europas – Base de données électronique de variétés slaves menacées dans des pays européens non slavophones. Konstanz: Universität / Paris: Lacito (Internet Publication).

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *dьnь (“day”). First attested in the 10th century.

• IPA^(key): /dáːn/

dȃn m inan

1. day

   Antonym: nọ̑č

Declension of dan (masculine inanimate, irregular)
nom. sing.	dan
gen. sing.	dneva, dne
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	dan	dneva	dnevi
accusative	dan	dneva	dneve, dni
genitive	dneva, dne	dnevov, dni	dnevov, dni
dative	dnevu	dnevoma, dnema	dnevom, dnem
locative	dnevu	dnevih, dneh	dnevih, dneh
instrumental	dnevom, dnem	dnevoma, dnema	dnevi

• days of the week: dnévi v tédnu (appendix): ponedéljek · tôrek · sréda · četŕtek · pétek · sobóta · nedélja ^[edit]
• dọ́ber dȃn

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /dàːn/

dán

1. past passive participle of dáti

👁 Unknown tone or non-tonal

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Hard
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nom. sing.	dán	dána	dáno
singular
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	dán ind dáni def	dána	dáno
genitive	dánega	dáne	dánega
dative	dánemu	dáni	dánemu
accusative	nominativeinan or genitiveanim	dáno	dáno
locative	dánem	dáni	dánem
instrumental	dánim	dáno	dánim
dual
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	dána	dáni	dáni
genitive	dánih	dánih	dánih
dative	dánima	dánima	dánima
accusative	dána	dáni	dáni
locative	dánih	dánih	dánih
instrumental	dánima	dánima	dánima
plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	dáni	dáne	dána
genitive	dánih	dánih	dánih
dative	dánim	dánim	dánim
accusative	dáne	dáne	dána
locative	dánih	dánih	dánih
instrumental	dánimi	dánimi	dánimi

• “dan”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

dan

1. I

• A Grammar Sketch of Sougb, in Languages of the Eastern Bird's Head (2002)

• IPA^(key): /ˈdan/ [ˈd̪ãn]

• Audio (Latin America):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: dan

dan m (plural danes)

1. (martial arts) dan

dan

1. third-person plural present indicative of dar

• “dan”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

dan

1. water

• Malcolm Ross, Andrew Pawley, Meredith Osmond (editors), The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic: The physical environment, Pacific Linguistics, 545-2. Australian National University, Canberra, 2003, page 59

• da'n

Clipping of dagen.

• IPA^(key): /dɑːn/

dan

1. (colloquial) contraction of dagen, definite singular of dag

• grabben hela dan

From Old Swedish dan, from Old Norse danir, from Proto-Germanic *daniz.

dan c

1. (historical) Dane (inhabitant of ancient Denmark)

Typically plural.

The perfect participle of Middle Low German don, in other words: "done".

dan (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) constituted in a certain manner

   Han är märklig och dan

   He is strange and stuff (idiomatically, where it is close to a filler)

• halvdan
• hurdan
• likadan
• sådan

• dana
• don

• “dan”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “dan”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “dan”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• -nad, and

dan

1. water

• Cornelis L. Voorhoeve, Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist (1975, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics), page 128

dan (genitive dana, uncountable)

1. thanks

dan

1. water

• Mark Donohue, Warembori, Lincom Europa, 1999

• IPA^(key): /dan/
• Rhymes: -an

Soft mutation of tan (“under”).

dan (triggers soft mutation on a following noun)

1. under

   Synonym: islaw

2. (literary) soft mutation of tan (“under”)

   Synonym: islaw

In literary Welsh, tan can mean both "under" and "until". In Welsh usage today, however, dan (originally the soft mutation of tan) has become a preposition in its own right with the meaning "under" whereas tan means "until", retaining the meaning "under" in certain expressions, compound words and place names. Modern dan or tan are not usually mutated. o dan is an alternative to dan.

• o dan

dan

1. (North Wales) first-person plural present colloquial of bod

• ydym, ŷm (literary)
• ŷn (South Wales)

Dan does not mutate.

dan

1. border

dan

1. (fresh) water

• Mats Exter, Phonetik und Phonologie des Wogeo (2003), Arbeitspapier, Neue Folge 46, Colonha, Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Köln, page 65
• Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)

Cognate with English dan (“dan buoy”).

• IPA^(key): /dan/

dan

1. A marker for pots and nets.

• Diarmaid Ó Muirithe (1990), “A Modern Glossary of the Dialect of Forth and Bargy”, in lrish University Review‎^[3], volume 20, number 1, Edinburgh University Press, page 156

• dẹn (Òǹkò)

• IPA^(key): /dã̄/

dan

1. (transitive) to counteract or neutralize someone's charm or spell

   àwọn ológùn-ún dan araa wọn ― The men with ritual powers neutralized each other's spells

• ìdan
• ẹ̀dan (“neutralizing charm”)
• adan

• dẹ́n (Òǹkò)

• IPA^(key): /dã́/

dán

1. (intransitive, copulative, stative, descriptive) to shine, to be smooth

   àwọ̀ ọ́ dán ― The skin is shining

2. (transitive) to polish or shine something
3. (transitive) to boast

   Synonyms: dánnu, janu

4. (transitive) to scrape or smoothen something; to shave

   Synonym: fá

   ó dán orí rẹ̀ ― He shaved his head

• Sense 3 is primarily used in the form dánnu