tan
verb/tæn/
/tæn/
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they tan | /tæn/ /tæn/ |
| he / she / it tans | /tænz/ /tænz/ |
| past simple tanned | /tænd/ /tænd/ |
| past participle tanned | /tænd/ /tænd/ |
| -ing form tanning | /ˈtænɪŋ/ /ˈtænɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] tan (somebody/something) if a person or their skin tans or is tanned, they become brown as a result of spending time in the sun
- My skin tans really easily.
- She tanned easily, despite her fair hair.
- You want your skin to tan evenly.
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- [transitive] tan something to make animal skin into leather by treating it with chemicals
Word Originverb late Old English tannian ‘convert into leather’, probably from medieval Latin tannare, perhaps of Celtic origin; reinforced in Middle English by Old French tanner.
Idioms
See tan in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryhave/tan somebody’s hide
- (old-fashioned, informal or humorous) to punish somebody severely
Check pronunciation:
tan