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• Honan
  Honan

  noun

  Henan.
• honan
  honan

  noun

  (sometimes capital) a silk fabric of rough weave

Honan

American  

[hoh-nan, hœ-nahn] / ˈhoʊˈnæn, ˈhœˈnɑn /

noun

1. Wade-Giles. Henan.

2. (usually lowercase)

   1. a pongee fabric made from the filaments of the wild silkworm.

   2. a lustrous fabric simulating pongee and woven from fibers other than silk.

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Honan ¹ British  

/ ˈhəʊˈnæn /

noun

1. a variant transliteration of the Chinese name for Henan

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honan ² British  

/ ˈhəʊˈnæn /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) a silk fabric of rough weave

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Etymology

Origin of Honan

First recorded in 1880–85; named after Honan, where the fabric was first manufactued

Example Sentences

Honan immediately reported the incident, calling the campaign office and the Department of Investigation.

From Salon • Aug. 23, 2025

“Glass, and the other things like it, won’t always be ugly and awkward,” Mat Honan wrote in Wired in 2013, in a retrospective of a year of wearing the device.

From Slate • Sep. 26, 2024

Democratic polling and strategy group Honan Strategy Group is meanwhile trying to develop an AI survey bot.

From Reuters • May 30, 2023

A “compulsively early person” by her own description, Ms. Honan said she has noticed — and appreciates — Mayor Adams’s commitment to being on time.

From New York Times • Jun. 6, 2022

So sure was this servant that we were all to be massacred that he would remain with us no longer, but returned that night to Honan with the report that we were all killed.

From How I Know God Answers Prayer The Personal Testimony of One Life-Time by Goforth, Rosalind