tan
verb (used with object)
to convert (a hide) into leather, especially by soaking or steeping in a bath prepared from tanbark or synthetically.
tan
1 American
[tan]
/ tæn /
verb (used with object)
-
tans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tanned,
past participle, past
-
tanning
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
tans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tanned,
past participle, past
-
tanning
present participle
noun
-
the brown color imparted to the skin by exposure to the sun or open air.
-
yellowish brown; light brown.
adjective
-
tanner,
comparative
-
tannest
superlative
-
of the color of tan; yellowish-brown.
-
used in or relating to tanning processes, materials, etc.
idioms
tan
2
American
[tan]
/ tæn /
noun
Tan
3
American
[tan]
/ tæn /
noun
TAN
4
American
[tan]
/ tæn /
noun
tan
1
British
/ tæn /
abbreviation
tan
2
British
/ tæn /
noun
-
the brown colour produced by the skin after intensive exposure to ultraviolet rays, esp those of the sun
-
a light or moderate yellowish-brown colour
-
short for tanbark
verb
-
to go brown or cause to go brown after exposure to ultraviolet rays
she tans easily
-
to convert (a skin or hide) into leather by treating it with a tanning agent, such as vegetable tannins, chromium salts, fish oils, or formaldehyde
-
slang (tr) to beat or flog
adjective
-
of the colour tan
tan gloves
-
used in or relating to tanning
tan
Scientific
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tansimple
-
tanssimple
-
have tannedperfect
-
has tannedperfect
-
am tanningprogressive
-
are tanningprogressive
-
is tanningprogressive
-
have been tanningperfect progressive
-
has been tanningperfect progressive
Past
-
tannedsimple
-
had tannedperfect
-
was tanningprogressive
-
were tanningprogressive
-
had been tanningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tan1
First recorded before 1000; 1920–25 tan 1 for def. 2; Middle English tannen “to make hide into leather,” late Old English tannian (only in past participle getanned ), from Medieval Latin tannāre, derivative of tannum “oak bark, tanbark,” from Germanic; compare Old High German tanna “oak, fir,” akin to Dutch den “fir”
Origin of tan2
By shortening
Explanation
Tan is a light brown color you might also call "beige." If you want to brighten up your bedroom, you can paint your boring tan walls with green, yellow, and hot pink stripes. Some people who spend a lot of time outside in the sun end up with a tan, a darker skin tone than they usually have. The verb tan means to deliberately soak up the sun in the hopes of getting a tan. You can also use tan as a verb to describe the process of making leather from animal skins: "Then I'll tan the deer hide by soaking it in this solution."
Vocabulary lists containing tan
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Some directly confronted the brothers, who sat at the defense tables in tan jail garb with their ankles shackled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
In 1986, as the 28-year-old head coach at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Murphy came across a man in a tan suit, standing on the side of the road beside a broken-down car.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Reflecting on the moments leading up to the camera rolling, Jordan said it felt "pretty cool" to get a spray tan and try out bodybuilder poses for the shoot.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Wearing a tan jumpsuit, he read a prepared statement in Spanish in which he extraordinarily urged young people to turn away from violence.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
She was old enough to tan the stinking old hides, wasn’t she?
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
Intel’s Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan, who took the helm in March 2025, has faced major hurdles as he has tried to turn around the company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Richard Windsor, founder of research firm Radio Free Mobile, shared similar caution about the stock, given his view that while Tan has made progress on a turnaround, “he is not out of the woods yet.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
Over the weekend, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan was racing to get a massive chip-financing arrangement for Anthropic—the largest AI debt deal in history—across the finish line.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
By Monday, there had been 15 consecutive days classed as "unhealthy" based on the local PSI air quality measuring system, exceeding the eight measured in 2015, NEA deputy director Jason Evan Tan told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2026
“Also, you’re right. Lewis Tan should have played Iron Fist.”
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
First Solar, the largest holding in the TAN ETF at 10%, is up 22% over the past year.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
She and her colleagues will now examine whether targeting the inflammatory factors and cellular interactions that induce TAN immunosuppression can help improve brain tumor responses to immunotherapy.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2023
SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. — Buffeted by rising costs and declining interest from golfers, the Links at Queen Creek course closed two years ago after 26 years of operation.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2022
Evaluating a tangent function with a scientific calculator as opposed to a graphing calculator or computer algebra system is like evaluating a sine or cosine: Enter the value and press the TAN key.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015
It is invaluable for TAN, FRECKLES, SUNBURN, Etc., and is a perfect hygienic safeguard against cutaneous disorders.
From Intestinal Ills Chronic Constipation, Indigestion, Autogenetic Poisons, Diarrhea, Piles, Etc. Also Auto-Infection, Auto-Intoxication, Anemia, Emaciation, Etc. Due to Proctitis and Colitis by Alcinous B. (Alcinous Burton) Jamison
Back on TikTok, in her own way, beauty influencer and fake tanner Jemma is also trying to prevent others from going through what Jak did.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2025
But instead of working as a tanner, he decided to become a leather tailor, and in 1985 he opened his store and workshop, Leder Bensmann.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
He was also tanner and had shaved his head.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2023
The state supplies 6 percent of the world’s king, snow, tanner and Dungeness crabs, per the institute.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2022
The passenger door opens, and Soojin pops out, tanner and taller than when I last saw her.
From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan
Sen. Rick Scott will face off against one of Florida’s tannest mothers in the GOP primary this election cycle.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
Q: Is Sutter the tannest man in sports?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2014
Gaggles of British tourists with fur coats and spray tans jostled for seating, clutching their outerwear to their chests for space as they scouted for a table to open up.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
Recognizable by a subtle sparkly strip hidden inside a collar or on an aglet at the end of a drawstring cord, Cucinelli’s luxury clothing brand employs a muted palette of tans and grays.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Pumped-up lips, spray tans, hollowed-out cheeks and false lashes are just some of the characteristics of the “Mar-a-Lago face” that Donald Trump adores in his women.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2025
Three pairs of dancers have made it to Blackpool's National Amateur Championships, but rivalries and mis-steps threaten the fixed smiles and fake tans in Amanda Whittington's Kiss Me Quickstep, Derby Theatre, 6-21 June.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2025
Their deep bush tans, the sores and blisters, the stories, the in-it- togetherness.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
Very much like an election, in other words, only one populated with women who were scalpel-sculpted, lifted, tanned and tucked to surgical specifications.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
Ulrich Siegmund, tanned and smiling, chatted enthusiastically with the crowd, at one point kneeling to speak with a child in a wheelchair.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
To the looksmaxxers, these peptides aren’t about health; they’re for shedding fat, building muscle, clearing up skin, and even getting tanned.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Within minutes of the announcement, memories of the elegant and tanned designer began to flood social media.
From Barron's ● Jan. 19, 2026
Sam Gribley took off the burlap bag on which he had affixed Alice’s whole tanned chicken skin.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
I found Sedona Quantum Consciousness online, via an advertisement for its Cell-Well Medbed, which appeared in photos to be a souped-up tanning bed.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
A CeraVe sunscreen campaign woos Gen Z tanmaxxers with a social-media video series that kicks off with the dramatic destruction of a tanning bed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Who needs umbrellas when you’ve got a tanning bed, a chin-up bar, beef-tallow stockpiles, and a gallon of only-sometimes-poisonous raw milk?
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
They also proposed displaying cigarette-style images at sunbed shops and tanning salons to dissuade people from using them.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
I figured T-N-T and Becca were probably at home, I don't know, tanning or something.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
