Word.ws English Dictionary

an

/ˈæn/[ˈæn]

an article: used before a vowel sound.

Article

an (indefinite)

  1. (indefinite) Used before a vowel sound.
    • I'll be there in half an hour.
    • 'E's staying at an 'otel. (compare He's staying at a hotel.)
  2. (indefinite) Used before /h/ in a stressed or unstressed syllable.
    • 1 I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined vnto me, and heard my crie.
      2 He brought me vp also out of an horrible pit, out of the mirie clay, and set my feete vpon a rock, and established my goings.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 40:1–2
    • The Province of Nanking, by the Tartars called Kiangnan, is the ſecond in honour, in magnitude and fertility in all China : It is divided into 14 great Territories, having Cities and Towns an hundred and ten; Nanking, or Kiangning being the Metropolis; a City, that if ſhe did not exceed moſt Cities...1693, Robert Morden, “Of China”, in Geography Rectified; or a Description of the World, 3rd edition, →OCLC, page 441
  3. (indefinite, rare) Used before one and words with initial ⟨u⟩, ⟨eu⟩ when pronounced /ju/.
    • God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 24:8
    • My hopes, from my earliest years, have been hopes of celebrity as a writer- not of wealth, or of influence, or of accomplishing any of the thousand aims which furnish the great bulk of mankind with motives. You will laugh at me. There is something so emphatically shadowy and unreal in the object of...(Can we date this quote?), John Mackay Wilson, Wilson's Tales of the Borders; Historical, Traditionary, and Imaginative, →OCLC, page 84
  4. (UK, West-Country, indefinite, nonstandard) Used before all consonants.

Numeral

an

  1. (UK, West-Country, nonstandard) one

Conjunction

an

  1. (archaic) If
    • […] An the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • Thereupon, quoth he, "O woman, for sundry days I have seen thee attend the levée sans a word said; so tell me an thou have any requirement I may grant."1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […]...
  2. (archaic) So long as.
    • An it harm none, do what ye will.
  3. (archaic) As if; as though.
    • At length did cross an Albatross,
      Thorough the Fog it came;
      And an it were a Christian Soul,
      We hail'd it in God's Name.

Noun (1)

an (plural ans)

  1. The first letter of the Georgian alphabet, ა (Mkhedruli), Ⴀ (Asomtavruli) or ⴀ (Nuskhuri).

Preposition

an

  1. In each; to or for each; per.
    • I was only going twenty miles an hour.
    Synonyms:
    per

Noun (2) capitalized: AN

AN (uncountable)

  1. (US) A set of sizes for screw threads agreed upon and jointly used by the United States Army and Navy.

Noun (3) capitalized: AN

AN (plural ANs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of author's note or authors' note.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism, uncountable) Initialism of antinatalism.
  3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of antinatalist.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: AN

AN

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands: a union territory of India.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: An

An

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of Anu.

an meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada

an in Hindi

indefinite article
एक ek

an in Tamil

indefinite article
ஒரு oru, ஒன்று oṉṟu

an in Telugu

indefinite article
ఒక oka

an in Kannada

indefinite article
ಒಂದು ondu
More languagesFewer languages
an in Tagalog
isang
an in Indonesian
sebuah, seorang
an in Persian
یک yak, ـی -ē, یه ya, یک -ی yek -i
an in Thai
หนึ่ง nʉ̀ng

Examples of an in a sentence

  • He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
  • I was catapulted without preparation into the most difficult job any mortal man can hold.1971, Lyndon Johnson, “The Beginning”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 12:
  • Fungiang, Sucheu, Sunkiang, Leucheu, Hoaigan, Ganking, Ningue, Hoeicheu, are alſo eminent places, and of great Note and Trade.1693, Robert Morden, “Of China”, in Geography Rectified; or a Description of the World, 3rd edition, →OCLC, page 441:
  • We have agreed on ways of working together to protect the environment, to advance health, to cooperate in science and technology.1972 May 28, 3:30 from the start, in President Nixon addresses the Soviet People live from the Kremlin, spoken by Richard Nixon, archived...

All 40 example sentences with an

Synonyms of an

Forms of an

pluralans
pluralANs

Origin of an

From Middle English an, from Old English ān (“a, an”, literally “one”). More at one.

From Middle English an (“and, if”). Doublet of and.

Borrowed from Georgian ან (an).

Words formed from an

Phrases with an

188 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with an

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about an

What does an mean?
An means used before a vowel sound.
What is an in Hindi?
An in Hindi is एक (ek). See An meaning in Hindi.
How do you use an in a sentence?
He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
What part of speech is an?
An can be an article, a numeral, a conjunction or a noun.
How do you pronounce an?
An is pronounced /ˈæn/.

Words near an in the dictionary

  1. amœbæ
  2. amœbæan
  3. amœne
  4. amœnities
  5. amœnity
  6. an
  7. an all
  8. an angel passes
  9. an apple a day
  10. an apple a day keeps the doctor at bay
  11. an apple a day keeps the doctor away

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: an (page history and authors); AN (page history and authors); An (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-an.wav, en-us-an.ogg.

Cite this entry: “an.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/an. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.