Shan
Americannoun
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a group of Mongoloid tribes in the hills of Myanmar (Burma).
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a language spoken in the Shan States and belonging to the Tai group of languages.
noun
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a member of a Mongoloid people living in Myanmar, Thailand, and SW China
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the language or group of dialects spoken by the Shan, belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family and closely related to Thai
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Conflict-related incidents rose more than 17-fold in southern Shan state between the three years before the coup and the same period afterwards, the report found.
From Barron's • Mar. 10, 2026
A combined opposition offensive starting in late 2023 saw the military lose huge parts of Shan state to rebels.
From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026
ProPublica journalists Nicole Foy, McKenzie Funk, Joanna Shan, Haley Clark and Cengiz Yar gathered videos via Spanish and English social media posts, local press reports and court records.
From Salon • Jan. 14, 2026
In neighbouring Kayah, where a coalition of resistance groups has controlled most of the state for two years, the military has retaken the town of Demoso, and the town of Mobye, just inside Shan State.
From BBC • Oct. 22, 2025
Bai Shan unhurriedly put his things in his schoolbag and said, “I’m sure.”
From "Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution" by Ji-li Jiang
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.
