anan
/əˈnæn/
anan interjection: expressing incomprehension or doubt; often requesting repetition or clarification, especially as an as an interrogative.
Interjection
- Expressing incomprehension or doubt; often requesting repetition or clarification, especially as an as an interrogative.
- 'You are familiar with the Polynesian, I collect?' asked Stephen.
'Anan, sir?'
'The South Sea language.'1991, Patrick O'Brian, Clarissa Oakes [historical fiction, set circa 1812] - “There was once [a mother], as in reason; but she has now been dead and sunk these two good years.”
“Anan?” said Deerslayer, looking up at his companion in a little surprise.
“Dead and sunk, I say, and I hope that's good English. The old fellow lowered his wife into the lake, by way of seeing the...1841, J[ames] Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer: A Tale. […], 1st British edition, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC
- 'You are familiar with the Polynesian, I collect?' asked Stephen.
Examples of anan in a sentence
- “Anan!” cried Briggs, recovering his temper from the perplexity of his understanding, at a discourse to which his ears were wholly unaccustomed, “what d'ye say?”1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, volume III:
- This reply converted the looks of the inquirer into a stare of infinite stolidity, accompanied with the word, Anan! which he pronounced in a tone of fear and astonishment.1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […]...
- Cringer lived: and was answered by a stare, accompanied with the word “Anan!” Upon which I came up, in order to explain the question, but had the misfortune to be unintelligible likewise1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […]...
Origin of anan
Variant form of anon (“in a moment; presently”).
Phrases with anan
Questions about anan
- What does anan mean?
- Anan means expressing incomprehension or doubt; often requesting repetition or clarification, especially as an as an interrogative.
- How do you use anan in a sentence?
- “Anan!” cried Briggs, recovering his temper from the perplexity of his understanding, at a discourse to which his ears were wholly unaccustomed, “what d'ye say?”
- What part of speech is anan?
- Anan is an interjection.
- How do you pronounce anan?
- Anan is pronounced /əˈnæn/.
Words near anan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: anan (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:
Cite this entry: “anan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/anan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
