pan-pan
A radio call indicating a minor emergency requiring some assistance, or priority in…A radio call indicating a minor emergency requiring some assistance, or priority in handling, but not endangering the safety of the vessel or those aboard.
Meaning
2 senses(uncountable)A radio call indicating a minor emergency requiring some assistance, or priority in handling, but not endangering the safety of the vessel or those aboard.
(historical)A Japanese prostitute who catered to American GIs in post-WWII occupied Japan.
Origin
From French panne (“breakdown”), reduplicated. From Japanese パンパン (panpan), an ellipsis oFrom French panne (“breakdown”), reduplicated.
From Japanese パンパン (panpan), an ellipsis of パンパンガール (panpangāru).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Word family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.