tan
verb (used with object)
to convert (a hide) into leather, especially by soaking or steeping in a bath prepared from tanbark or synthetically.
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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:
Banks, who was in a tan suit and brown tie, appeared nervous ahead of the verdict being read, swaying back and forth and at times swiveling in his chair.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 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
She’s let her hair go gray but kept up her tan, and she’s careful not to ridicule the ways her body has changed with age.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
The gang of at least four men were communicating by walkie talkies and they were all wearing post office-style clothing as well as make up, fake tan and glasses.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
It was dark and tan from hours in the sun.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
Micron stock was gaining after Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan highlighted soaring memory prices.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Tan later counter-sued Kawshigan to claim back expenses she said she had incurred while defending herself from his alleged harassment.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
Production shipments of the Broadcom’s newest TPUs for Google have begun, Tan says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Andreasson is the senior author, and Jessy Tan, PhD, an instructor in neurology, is the lead author.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
Aluminum shipping caskets containing bodies are stacked outside the US Army Mortuary facility at Tan Sun Nhut Airbase near Saigon, 1969.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
SolarEdge Technologies has gained 130% over the past year and shows a bullish falling wedge pattern 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
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
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 state supplies 6 percent of the world’s king, snow, tanner and Dungeness crabs, per the institute.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2022
She’s worked for three years to perfect her skinning process, and now works with a tanner who treats the skins to her liking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2022
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
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
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
Three pairs of dancers have made it to Blackpool's National Amateur Championships, but rivalries and mis-steps threaten the fixed smiles and fake tans in Amanda Whittington's Kiss Me Quickstep, Derby Theatre, 6-21 June.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2025
He paints a pair of shoes, one sole up, one sole down, browns and tans, with light and white, though he is still using black.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Ulrich Siegmund, tanned and smiling, chatted enthusiastically with the crowd, at one point kneeling to speak with a child in a wheelchair.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 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
Her glowing, tanned skin shows off each of her well-defined muscle lines, the result of hours of weight training in the gym.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025
He imagined a life of surfboards with groups of tanned people eating medium-spiced corn chips on his seaside balcony.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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
WSJ | Buy Side: Get a summertime glow, no matter the season, with these expert-recommended tanning mousses, sprays and drops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 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.
