San

¹ American  

[sahn] / sɑn /

noun

PLURAL

Sans

PLURAL

San

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.

---

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.

---

-san ³ American  

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

   Suzuki-san; samurai-san.

---

San ¹ British  

/ sɑːn /

noun

1. an aboriginal people of southern Africa

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

---

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)

---

san ³ British  

/ sæn /

noun

1. old-fashioned  short for sanatorium

---

Etymology

Origin of -san

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

Example Sentences

San Francisco — San Francisco Opera’s hit new opera, Huang Ruo’s “The Monkey King,” which had its final performance Sunday at War Memorial Opera House, quickly became the hottest show in town, all its performances sold out.

From Los Angeles Times

The potential this opera signals is for a major cultural change for San Francisco.

From Los Angeles Times

In the green room of the opera house at the Nov. 20 performance, founder and CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, and his wife, Lori Huang, announced a $5-million gift to San Francisco Opera to help fund the production of the “Monkey King,” which the company commissioned, and a commitment to continue an annual $5 million contribution to the company.

From Los Angeles Times

San Francisco Opera well set the stage for this by going all out in connecting “Monkey King” with the city’s large Chinese community through various outreach programs while also tapping into the way Chinese culture has long been a pervasive influence, and especially through music, in San Francisco life.

From Los Angeles Times

In Diane Paulus’ production for San Francisco, Monkey is portrayed by an opera singer, an acrobatic dancer and a puppet.

From Los Angeles Times