tan
verb (used with object)
to convert (a hide) into leather, especially by soaking or steeping in a bath prepared from tanbark or synthetically.
tan
1 American
[tan]
/ tæn /
verb (used with object)
-
tans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tanned,
past participle, past
-
tanning
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
tans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tanned,
past participle, past
-
tanning
present participle
noun
-
the brown color imparted to the skin by exposure to the sun or open air.
-
yellowish brown; light brown.
adjective
-
tanner,
comparative
-
tannest
superlative
-
of the color of tan; yellowish-brown.
-
used in or relating to tanning processes, materials, etc.
idioms
tan
2
American
[tan]
/ tæn /
noun
Tan
3
American
[tan]
/ tæn /
noun
TAN
4
American
[tan]
/ tæn /
noun
tan
1
British
/ tæn /
abbreviation
tan
2
British
/ tæn /
noun
-
the brown colour produced by the skin after intensive exposure to ultraviolet rays, esp those of the sun
-
a light or moderate yellowish-brown colour
-
short for tanbark
verb
-
to go brown or cause to go brown after exposure to ultraviolet rays
she tans easily
-
to convert (a skin or hide) into leather by treating it with a tanning agent, such as vegetable tannins, chromium salts, fish oils, or formaldehyde
-
slang (tr) to beat or flog
adjective
-
of the colour tan
tan gloves
-
used in or relating to tanning
tan
Scientific
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tansimple
-
tanssimple
-
have tannedperfect
-
has tannedperfect
-
am tanningprogressive
-
are tanningprogressive
-
is tanningprogressive
-
have been tanningperfect progressive
-
has been tanningperfect progressive
Past
-
tannedsimple
-
had tannedperfect
-
was tanningprogressive
-
were tanningprogressive
-
had been tanningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tan1
First recorded before 1000; 1920–25 tan 1 for def. 2; Middle English tannen “to make hide into leather,” late Old English tannian (only in past participle getanned ), from Medieval Latin tannāre, derivative of tannum “oak bark, tanbark,” from Germanic; compare Old High German tanna “oak, fir,” akin to Dutch den “fir”
Origin of tan2
By shortening
Explanation
Tan is a light brown color you might also call "beige." If you want to brighten up your bedroom, you can paint your boring tan walls with green, yellow, and hot pink stripes. Some people who spend a lot of time outside in the sun end up with a tan, a darker skin tone than they usually have. The verb tan means to deliberately soak up the sun in the hopes of getting a tan. You can also use tan as a verb to describe the process of making leather from animal skins: "Then I'll tan the deer hide by soaking it in this solution."
Vocabulary lists containing tan
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.
See Examples For:
"All of them were tremendous, and when we do any series I have this room with the monitors. I'm like a weirdo just applying fake tan, watching," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
District Court judge denied an emergency application seeking to prevent the county from euthanizing Bruce, a 100-pound black and tan German shepherd mix.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
From it emerged a 64-year-old dairyman, burly and tan, who left the engine running as he lumbered toward me with open arms.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
A pool journalist allowed to tour the inside of the plane reported that it features leather seats, plush carpets, wooden panelling and walls colored tan and light brown with shades of gold.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
But she had recognized the small tan Volkswagen of her tenant, Mia, its headlights shining.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
The Viet Tan statement did not mention the third man, who was named by authorities as Thai Cong Truong Son.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
"We have requests coming from Spain, France, Germany, The Netherlands," says Darren Tan, co-founder and chief executive.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
As I’ve written previously, quoting Tan and other experts, there is no cure for dementia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
The patient’s daughter and primary caregiver, Adai Lamar, updated Tan on her mother Jessie’s condition, and then stepped away to tell me about her own journey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
After them followed the High Septon in his litter, and a long tail of other courtiers—Ser Horas Redwyne, Lady Tan da and her daughter, Jalabhar Xho, Lord Gyles Rosby, and the rest.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
First Solar, the largest holding in the TAN ETF at 10%, is up 22% over the past year.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
She and her colleagues will now examine whether targeting the inflammatory factors and cellular interactions that induce TAN immunosuppression can help improve brain tumor responses to immunotherapy.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2023
Ministers want to update the planning rules, known as TAN 15, to reflect the risk of flooding and ensure future development considers the potential impact of climate change.
From BBC ● May 20, 2023
SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. — Buffeted by rising costs and declining interest from golfers, the Links at Queen Creek course closed two years ago after 26 years of operation.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2022
It is invaluable for TAN, FRECKLES, SUNBURN, Etc., and is a perfect hygienic safeguard against cutaneous disorders.
From Intestinal Ills Chronic Constipation, Indigestion, Autogenetic Poisons, Diarrhea, Piles, Etc. Also Auto-Infection, Auto-Intoxication, Anemia, Emaciation, Etc. Due to Proctitis and Colitis by Alcinous B. (Alcinous Burton) Jamison
Ms Eagle said she became suspicious after her stepdaughter, who also used a tanner, spotted a Facebook post from someone who said they had also suffered a bad reaction.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2025
Bong has given the leader TV aspirations; the makeup team has given him orange tanner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2025
When he returned to Germany, he searched all over the country for a traditional tanner who could teach him the craft and found one in Bad Hindelang, where Bensmann still lives today.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
He was also tanner and had shaved his head.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2023
These were the cottages in which the servants lived, and where the blacksmith, tinsmith, and tanner plied their trades.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
Sen. Rick Scott will face off against one of Florida’s tannest mothers in the GOP primary this election cycle.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
Q: Is Sutter the tannest man in sports?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2014
Gaggles of British tourists with fur coats and spray tans jostled for seating, clutching their outerwear to their chests for space as they scouted for a table to open up.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
Why are so many of your fabrics tans, ivories or “goat-colored”?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
By the 1960s and 70s sun lovers were using cooking oil and reflective blankets to deepen their tans.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2025
More than a few bore tans so dark that they were browner than me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2025
As the freezing water flowed around us we rubbed the dirt off our bodies and without dirt both of us looked white as ghosts with farmer’s tans on our face and neck and arms.
From "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff
Very much like an election, in other words, only one populated with women who were scalpel-sculpted, lifted, tanned and tucked to surgical specifications.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
At night, queues snake around the block outside nightclubs where DJ’s spin thumping house music for big-spending revelers, their faces sculpted by surgery and tanned by the sun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
To the looksmaxxers, these peptides aren’t about health; they’re for shedding fat, building muscle, clearing up skin, and even getting tanned.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Within minutes of the announcement, memories of the elegant and tanned designer began to flood social media.
From Barron's ● Jan. 19, 2026
If anyone asked, he was to say he got his tanned skin from working outside.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
I found Sedona Quantum Consciousness online, via an advertisement for its Cell-Well Medbed, which appeared in photos to be a souped-up tanning bed.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
A CeraVe sunscreen campaign woos Gen Z tanmaxxers with a social-media video series that kicks off with the dramatic destruction of a tanning bed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Who needs umbrellas when you’ve got a tanning bed, a chin-up bar, beef-tallow stockpiles, and a gallon of only-sometimes-poisonous raw milk?
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
They also proposed displaying cigarette-style images at sunbed shops and tanning salons to dissuade people from using them.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
For her, tanning had moved from an intense hobby to something more closely resembling a psychological dysfunction.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
