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flan

[flan, flahn; for 1 also Spanish flahn; for 2 also French flahn]
See more synonyms for flan on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural flans [flanz, flahnz; for 2 also French flahn] /flænz, flɑnz; for 2 also French flɑ̃/; Spanish fla·nes [flah-nes] /ˈflɑ nɛs/ for 1.
  1. Spanish Cookery. a dessert of sweetened egg custard with a caramel topping.
  2. an open, tartlike pastry, the shell of which is baked in a bottomless band of metal (flan ring) on a baking sheet, removed from the ring and filled with custard, cream, fruit, etc.
  3. a piece of metal shaped ready to form a coin, but not yet stamped by the die.
  4. the metal of which a coin is made, as distinct from its design.
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Origin of flan

1840–50; < French; Old French flaon < Late Latin fladōn-, stem of fladō < Germanic; compare Old High German flado (German Fladen) flat cake
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for flan

Historical Examples

  • Flan moulds are generally fluted, and about an inch and a half in height.

    The Gastronomic Regenerator:

    Alexis Soyer

  • Flan, don't you call that the true theory of the balance of power?

    Quodlibet

    John P. Kennedy

  • During this interval, the conspirators having learned, through their leader, Flan.

    Quodlibet

    John P. Kennedy

British Dictionary definitions for flan

flan

noun
  1. an open pastry or sponge tart filled with fruit or a savoury mixture
  2. a piece of metal ready to receive the die or stamp in the production of coins; shaped blank; planchet
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Word Origin

C19: from French, from Old French flaon, from Late Latin fladō flat cake, of Germanic origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for flan

n.

"open tart," 1846, from French flan "custard tart, cheesecake," from Old French flaon (12c.), from Medieval Latin flado, probably a Germanic borrowing (cf. Frankish *flado, Old High German flado "offering cake," Middle High German vlade "a broad, thin cake," Dutch vla "baked custard"), from Proto-Germanic *flatho(n), akin to words for "flat" and probably from PIE root *plat- "to spread" (see place). Borrowed earlier as flawn (c.1300), from Old French.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper