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:
Reflecting on the moments leading up to the camera rolling, Jordan said it felt "pretty cool" to get a spray tan and try out bodybuilder poses for the shoot.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 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
Maduro, wearing tan jail garb, listened to the proceedings on Wednesday through headphones that provided Spanish interpretation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Wearing a tan jumpsuit, he read a prepared statement in Spanish in which he extraordinarily urged young people to turn away from violence.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
But she had recognized the small tan Volkswagen of her tenant, Mia, its headlights shining.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
Intel’s Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan, who took the helm in March 2025, has faced major hurdles as he has tried to turn around the company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Richard Windsor, founder of research firm Radio Free Mobile, shared similar caution about the stock, given his view that while Tan has made progress on a turnaround, “he is not out of the woods yet.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
“Despite near-term headwinds across the PC industry, demand for our CPUs remains robust, reinforcing our confidence in the long-term growth opportunities for our business,” Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
By Monday, there had been 15 consecutive days classed as "unhealthy" based on the local PSI air quality measuring system, exceeding the eight measured in 2015, NEA deputy director Jason Evan Tan told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2026
“However, the King is not able to go on the journey, for it will take many months and may he quite dangerous. He will send his son, Prince Con Isae Tan, in his stead.”
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
Looking at the chart, a bullish falling wedge pattern is forming on the ratio chart against the TAN ETF:
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
Stockings, petticoats, some soft stuff for a new dress and TAN shoes that looked like the ones that wonderful young woman wore and then some long white things.
From The Trail of the Lonesome Pine by John Fox
Back on TikTok, in her own way, beauty influencer and fake tanner Jemma is also trying to prevent others from going through what Jak did.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2025
Bong has given the leader TV aspirations; the makeup team has given him orange tanner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2025
But instead of working as a tanner, he decided to become a leather tailor, and in 1985 he opened his store and workshop, Leder Bensmann.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
He was also tanner and had shaved his head.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2023
The girls armed themselves with sticks and small rocks, curling irons and bottles of tanner.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
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
Visor-wearing buzzards with farmer’s tans are circling the Saudi-backed league as the Kingdom considers terminating its munificent support of the lavish and comically irrelevant golf concern.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
By the 1960s and 70s sun lovers were using cooking oil and reflective blankets to deepen their tans.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2025
Pumped-up lips, spray tans, hollowed-out cheeks and false lashes are just some of the characteristics of the “Mar-a-Lago face” that Donald Trump adores in his women.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2025
I identify all the smaller pigments—the rich browns and tans and whites—that help make the hue bright and uniform.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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
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
NANTUCKET, Mass.—On a recent morning, a tanned Dave Portnoy appeared to be living his best rich-guy life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Within minutes of the announcement, memories of the elegant and tanned designer began to flood social media.
From Barron's ● Jan. 19, 2026
An elderly, preternaturally tanned man—the mayor, somebody explains—waits with a white handkerchief in his big sailor’s hands, a barely perceptible shake showing in his wrists.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
