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pan-pan

American  
[pahn-pahn] / ˈpɑnˈpɑn /
Sometimes pan

noun

  1. an international distress signal used by shore stations to inform a ship, aircraft, etc., of something vital to its safety or to the safety of one of its passengers.

Etymology

Origin of pan-pan

Reduplication and alteration of French panne “breakdown, failure”

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.