tan

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tæn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tannen, from late Old English tannian, implied in getanned,^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin tannāre, to tan, dye a tawny colour (about 900),^[3][2] from tannum, crushed oak bark used in tanning,^[3][2] probably from a Celtic source, such as Breton tann, oak tree;^[3][2][5] it was reinforced in Middle English by Old French tanner.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make hides into leather: about 1000, in Ælfric's glossaries, as the participle getanned.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

To make the skin brown by exposure to the sun is first recorded in 1530, in Palsgrave.^[2][3] To tan someone's hide, to thrash, is from the 1660s.^[3][4] The noun, crushed oak bark, is from 1604 (about 1600),^[2][7][3] earlier in tannedust (1392).^[2] The brown colour of tanned skin is from 1749,^[2][3][7] in allusion to the colour of tanned leather,^[2] and the adjective, yellowish-brown, from 1630.^[2] Tanner and tannery are early: tanner is Old English, tannery 15th century.^[4] German Tanne, fir tree, may come from the same Celtic source.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – to tan hides.^[2]
• 1530 – to brown in the sun.^[2]
• 1604 – tanbark (noun).^[2]
• 1630 – yellowish-brown (adjective).^[2]
• 1660s – to thrash.^[3]
• 1749 – a suntan.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make or become brown by exposure to the sun.
2. To convert hide into leather, as by treating with tannin.
3. (slang) To beat or thrash.

Noun

1. The brown colour the skin acquires from exposure to the sun; a suntan.
2. A light yellowish-brown colour.
3. Tanbark, or tannin.

Adjective

1. Of a light yellowish-brown colour.

Word family

• tannish
• tannable
• suntan
• tanbark
• tanner
• tannery
• tannage
• retan

Related words

• tawny
• tannin
• tannic acid

Usage notes

Tan is also an abbreviation of tangent in mathematics.^[8][6] In Lancashire dialect a tan was a twig, from Old English tān.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)