roan

American  

[rohn] / roʊn /

adjective

1. (chiefly of horses) of the color sorrel, chestnut, or bay, sprinkled with gray or white.

2. prepared from leather of this color.

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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 British  

/ rəʊn /

adjective

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

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noun

1. a horse having such a coat

2. a soft unsplit sheepskin leather with a close tough grain, used in bookbinding, etc

Etymology

Origin of roan

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

Example Sentences

At Red Cliffs Lodge near Moab, I rode a big, red roan horse named Little Joe on a three-hour trail ride through the valley where the 1950 movie “Rio Grande” was filmed.

From Washington Post • Aug. 26, 2021

Gray or roan horses are 0 for their last 31 in the Derby; Essential Quality and Soup and Sandwich will aim to snap that drought.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 30, 2021

Around and around go the toddlers on Jazz, the long-maned roan pony, as their parents snap smartphone candids.

From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2019

He called the servant man to go, Saddled the dappled roan, And he rode to her father’s house that night, Knocked on the door alone.

From The New Yorker • May 13, 2019

The roan bull spilled right into the spring.

From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson