Meaning

5 senses

  1. (intransitive, transitive)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.

    bräunen, in der Sonne baden

    загора́тьzagorátʹ, загоре́тьzagorétʹ

    get a tan, from wind or sun

  2. (transitive)To change an animal hide into leather by soaking it in tannic acid.

    gerben, walken

    дуби́тьdubítʹ, вы́дубитьvýdubitʹ

    дуби́тиdubýty

    treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather

  3. (stative, transitive)To work as a tanner.

  4. (informal, transitive)To spank or beat.

  5. (Multicultural London English, slang, transitive)To kill by gun, to shoot.

Examples

87 sentences

  1. Where did Tom get that tan?

    Де Том так засмаг? — deniko

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. I'm trying to get a tan.

    Я намагаюсь засмагнути. — older

    ruЯ пытаюсь загореть. — odexed

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Tom is very tan.

    Том дуже загорілий. — deniko

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. I tanned myself on the beach.

    ruЯ загорел на пляже. — Balamax

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Tom was wearing baggy tan pants.

    ruТом носил мешковатые бежевые штаны. — Smoky

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
to turn animal hide into leather:
Русский
By meaning 2
to become tan due to exposure to sun:
to turn animal hide into leather:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
to become tan due to exposure to sun:
to turn animal hide into leather:

Origin

As a verb, from Middle English tannen, from late Old English tannian (“to tan a hide”), fr

As a verb, from Middle English tannen, from late Old English tannian (“to tan a hide”), from Latin tannare.

It may either be a figurative use of the usual verb tan (“to cause to acquire a brownish colour”) or a Jamaican Creole pronunciation of turn, compare bun (“to kill particularly by gunshot”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

tans, tanning, tanned, tanned
Base formtan · to tan
3rd person singulartans
Present participletanning
Past simpletanned
Past participletanned

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theytan
he, she, ittans

Past simpleLesson

all personstanned

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave tanned
he, she, ithas tanned

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill tan

Phrasal verbs

2 phrasal verbs

Synonyms

1 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • get a tan, from wind or sun:bronze

Word family

27 related words
Relatedtannic acidtannintawnytannertanningtannery
Derivedtanbarkovertanpretanretanspray-tantanaholictanhousetanlingtannabilitytannabletannagetanoaktanorexiatanorexictan outtanpittanstufftan uptanworkstanyardvegetan

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
tampertampontandem
tan — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto