roan

[ rohn ]

adjective

1. (chiefly of horses) of the color sorrel, chestnut, or bay, sprinkled with gray or white.
2. prepared from leather of this color.

noun

1. a horse or other animal with a roan coat.
2. a roan color.
3. a soft, flexible sheepskin leather, used in bookbinding, often made to imitate morocco.

roan

/ rəʊn /

adjective

1. (of a horse) having a bay ( red roan ), chestnut ( strawberry roan ), or black ( blue roan ) coat sprinkled with white hairs

noun

1. a horse having such a coat
2. a soft unsplit sheepskin leather with a close tough grain, used in bookbinding, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of roan¹

1520–30; < Middle French < Old Spanish roano < Germanic; compare Gothic rauths red

Word History and Origins

Origin of roan¹

C16: from Old French, from Spanish roano , probably from Gothic rauths red

Example Sentences

And "how Lem Wheeler, while out hunting that roan steer o' hisn, had heard a moanin' an' a wailin' under the bluff."

From Project Gutenberg

They saw a number of ponies tied at one end of the camp, and among them they identified the piebald and the roan.

From Project Gutenberg

For fear of it he raced the tall roan furiously through the night.

From Project Gutenberg

He had to place the muzzle of the gun against the roan's temple and pull the trigger.

From Project Gutenberg

One on a big sorrel and the other on a roan with white stockings on the front feet?

From Project Gutenberg