"san" meaning in English

See san in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈsæn/ [Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation], [ˈseə̯n] ~ [ˈsɛə̯n] (note: General American, Canada, æ-raising), /ˈsan/ [British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales], /ˈsæːn/ [Australia], [ˈseːn] (note: æ-raising), /ˈsɛn/ [New-Zealand] Audio: En-us-san.ogg [US] Forms: sans [plural]
Rhymes: -æn Etymology: From Ancient Greek σάν (sán), from a Semitic language. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|grc|σάν}} Ancient Greek σάν (sán), {{der|en|sem}} Semitic Head templates: {{en-noun}} san (plural sans)
  1. An Ancient Greek letter representing /s/ (uppercase Ϻ, lowercase ϻ), originally used in some dialects instead of sigma. Derived forms: tsan Related terms: sigma Translations (letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet): san [feminine] (Catalan), sano (Esperanto), san [masculine] (French), san [feminine, masculine] (Italian), san [feminine, masculine] (Sicilian), san [feminine] (Spanish)
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /ˈsæn/ [Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation], [ˈseə̯n] ~ [ˈsɛə̯n] (note: General American, Canada, æ-raising), /ˈsan/ [British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales], /ˈsæːn/ [Australia], [ˈseːn] (note: æ-raising), /ˈsɛn/ [New-Zealand] Audio: En-us-san.ogg [US] Forms: sans [plural]
Rhymes: -æn Etymology: Shortening of sanatorium. Head templates: {{en-noun}} san (plural sans)
  1. (dated, informal) A sanatorium. Tags: dated, informal Related terms: eco-san, san ts'ai, san fairy ann (english: etymologically unrelated)
    Sense id: en-san-en-noun-6lP2QvEi
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "σάν",
      "σάν#Ancient_Greek"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "σάν"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek σάν (sán)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sem"
      },
      "expansion": "Semitic",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Ancient Greek σάν (sán), from a Semitic language.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sans",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "san (plural sans)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "san"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "68 32",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Catalan translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Sicilian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "98 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Greek letter names",
          "orig": "en:Greek letter names",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "tsan"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An Ancient Greek letter representing /s/ (uppercase Ϻ, lowercase ϻ), originally used in some dialects instead of sigma."
      ],
      "id": "en-san-en-noun-jfy~x2Nf",
      "links": [
        [
          "Ancient Greek",
          "Ancient Greek"
        ],
        [
          "Ϻ",
          "Ϻ"
        ],
        [
          "ϻ",
          "ϻ"
        ],
        [
          "sigma",
          "sigma"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "sigma"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "lang_code": "ca",
          "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "san"
        },
        {
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "lang_code": "eo",
          "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
          "word": "sano"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "san"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "san"
        },
        {
          "code": "scn",
          "lang": "Sicilian",
          "lang_code": "scn",
          "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "san"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "san"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsæn/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈseə̯n] ~ [ˈsɛə̯n]",
      "note": "General American, Canada, æ-raising"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-san.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8c/En-us-san.ogg/En-us-san.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/En-us-san.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsan/",
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Northern-England",
        "Scotland",
        "Southern",
        "Standard",
        "Wales"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsæːn/",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈseːn]",
      "note": "æ-raising"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɛn/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æn"
    }
  ],
  "word": "san"
}

{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "sanatorium",
      "sanatorium#English"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_text": "Shortening of sanatorium.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sans",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "san (plural sans)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "san"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              102,
              105
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1940, Enid Blyton, The Naughtiest Girl in the School:",
          "text": "\"Haven't you heard?\" said Belinda. \"Joan's ill! She'd got a high temperature, and she's in bed in the San.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              14,
              17
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1958, Doris Lessing, A Ripple From the Storm, HarperPerennial, published 1995, page 122:",
          "text": "‘I was in the san for ten months before the war. I know all the gen about being sick.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              12,
              15
            ],
            [
              57,
              60
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2005, Dan Soucoup, Richard Thorne McCully, McCully's New Brunswick, page 137:",
          "text": "River Glade Sanatorium, River Glade, June 25, 1931. The \"San\" at River Glade with the Petitcodiac River in the background.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sanatorium."
      ],
      "id": "en-san-en-noun-6lP2QvEi",
      "links": [
        [
          "sanatorium",
          "sanatorium"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, informal) A sanatorium."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "eco-san"
        },
        {
          "word": "san ts'ai"
        },
        {
          "english": "etymologically unrelated",
          "translation": "etymologically unrelated",
          "word": "san fairy ann"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsæn/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈseə̯n] ~ [ˈsɛə̯n]",
      "note": "General American, Canada, æ-raising"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-san.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8c/En-us-san.ogg/En-us-san.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/En-us-san.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsan/",
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Northern-England",
        "Scotland",
        "Southern",
        "Standard",
        "Wales"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsæːn/",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈseːn]",
      "note": "æ-raising"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɛn/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æn"
    }
  ],
  "word": "san"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Ancient Greek",
    "English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
    "English terms derived from Semitic languages",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 57 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/æn",
    "Rhymes:English/æn/1 syllable",
    "Terms with Catalan translations",
    "Terms with Esperanto translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Sicilian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "en:Greek letter names"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "tsan"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "σάν",
      "σάν#Ancient_Greek"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "σάν"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek σάν (sán)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sem"
      },
      "expansion": "Semitic",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Ancient Greek σάν (sán), from a Semitic language.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sans",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "san (plural sans)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "san"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "sigma"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "An Ancient Greek letter representing /s/ (uppercase Ϻ, lowercase ϻ), originally used in some dialects instead of sigma."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Ancient Greek",
          "Ancient Greek"
        ],
        [
          "Ϻ",
          "Ϻ"
        ],
        [
          "ϻ",
          "ϻ"
        ],
        [
          "sigma",
          "sigma"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsæn/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈseə̯n] ~ [ˈsɛə̯n]",
      "note": "General American, Canada, æ-raising"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-san.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8c/En-us-san.ogg/En-us-san.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/En-us-san.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsan/",
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Northern-England",
        "Scotland",
        "Southern",
        "Standard",
        "Wales"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsæːn/",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈseːn]",
      "note": "æ-raising"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɛn/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æn"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "lang_code": "ca",
      "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "san"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "lang_code": "eo",
      "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
      "word": "sano"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "san"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "san"
    },
    {
      "code": "scn",
      "lang": "Sicilian",
      "lang_code": "scn",
      "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "san"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "san"
    }
  ],
  "word": "san"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 57 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/æn",
    "Rhymes:English/æn/1 syllable",
    "en:Greek letter names"
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "sanatorium",
      "sanatorium#English"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_text": "Shortening of sanatorium.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sans",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "san (plural sans)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "san"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "eco-san"
    },
    {
      "word": "san ts'ai"
    },
    {
      "english": "etymologically unrelated",
      "translation": "etymologically unrelated",
      "word": "san fairy ann"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              102,
              105
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1940, Enid Blyton, The Naughtiest Girl in the School:",
          "text": "\"Haven't you heard?\" said Belinda. \"Joan's ill! She'd got a high temperature, and she's in bed in the San.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              14,
              17
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1958, Doris Lessing, A Ripple From the Storm, HarperPerennial, published 1995, page 122:",
          "text": "‘I was in the san for ten months before the war. I know all the gen about being sick.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              12,
              15
            ],
            [
              57,
              60
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2005, Dan Soucoup, Richard Thorne McCully, McCully's New Brunswick, page 137:",
          "text": "River Glade Sanatorium, River Glade, June 25, 1931. The \"San\" at River Glade with the Petitcodiac River in the background.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sanatorium."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sanatorium",
          "sanatorium"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, informal) A sanatorium."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsæn/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈseə̯n] ~ [ˈsɛə̯n]",
      "note": "General American, Canada, æ-raising"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-san.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8c/En-us-san.ogg/En-us-san.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/En-us-san.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsan/",
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Northern-England",
        "Scotland",
        "Southern",
        "Standard",
        "Wales"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsæːn/",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈseːn]",
      "note": "æ-raising"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɛn/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æn"
    }
  ],
  "word": "san"
}

Download raw JSONL data for san meaning in English (5.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.