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• San
  San

  noun

  a member of a nomadic aboriginal people of southern Africa.
• -san
  -san

  a suffix used in Japanese as a term of respect after names or titles.
• san
  san

  noun

  short for sanatorium

San

¹ American  

[sahn] / sɑn /

noun

• Sans,
  plural
• San
  plural

1. a member of a nomadic aboriginal people of southern Africa.

2. any of more than a dozen related Khoisan languages spoken by the San.

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San ² American  

[sahn] / sɑn /

noun

1. a river in central Europe, flowing from the Carpathian Mountains in W Ukraine through SE Poland into the Vistula: battles 1914–15. About 280 miles (450 km) long.

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-san ³ American  

1. a suffix used in Japanese as a term of respect after names or titles.

   Suzuki-san; samurai-san.

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San ¹ British  

/ sɑːn /

noun

1. an aboriginal people of southern Africa

2. a group of the Khoisan languages, spoken mostly by Bushmen

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San ² British  

/ sɑːn /

noun

1. a river in E central Europe, rising in W Ukraine and flowing northwest across SE Poland to the Vistula River. Length: about 450 km (280 miles)

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san ³ British  

/ sæn /

noun

1. old-fashioned short for sanatorium

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• San
  plural
• Sans
  plural

Etymology

Origin of -san

< Japanese, contraction of -sama suffix denoting direction, appearance, respect

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

San san Sans

Higher-elevation areas, such as the San Gabriel Mountains, will probably see heavier rain — up to three-quarters of an inch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

Bernstein named Physical Intelligence, a two-year-old startup based in San Francisco, as a likely leader in robotic-brain development.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026

Ashley Bleckner, a wealth adviser at Ellevest in San Diego, says incorporating pet care into a younger person’s limited budget means your emergency fund isn’t just for your own emergencies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

The San Jose, Calif.-based company said it would restructure and cut 3% of its workforce as it reallocates resources to support its AI and growth initiatives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

I remembered how he’d let me sit behind the counter as he spoke with customers at the shops where he worked in San Francisco.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Alcoa san k 7% after the aluminum producer’s first-quarter earnings and revenue fell short of analysts’ expectations.

From Barron's ● Apr. 17, 2026

Miyazaki san responded, “I am making this movie because I do not have the answer.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2023

“Miyazaki san is a master of that stature.”

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023

The pair, Sean Turnell, a former adviser to deposed Myanmar leader Aung san Suu Kyi and Vicky Bowman, were headed to Bangkok on an evening flight, the source said.

From Reuters ● Nov. 17, 2022

After school, Has- san and I climbed its branches and snatched its bloodred pome­granates.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

“I used Comic Sans for the first time in my 35-year career for the rest of the type. I felt that was some sort of weird pinnacle in itself,” Kennedy explains over email.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026

Last September, her maps, derived from open-source, freely available images, became a lifeline for organisations like Médecins Sans Frontières operating in the devastated towns, which included Marrakesh.

From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2024

Amina, whose name we have changed to protect her identity, has come to a temporary clinic run by the charity Médecins Sans Frontières, seeking an abortion.

From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2024

But Doctors Without Borders, known in French as Médecins Sans Frontières, confirmed that’s not the case.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2023

A garden party at Sans Souci, the country home of the Baroness Edmond de Rothschild, effectively brought the meeting to its end.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson