Word.ws English Dictionary

anan

/əˈnæn/

anan interjection: expressing incomprehension or doubt; often requesting repetition or clarification, especially as an as an interrogative.

Interjection

  1. (obsolete) 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

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

  1. Anamorós
  2. Anamosa
  3. Anampa
  4. anamu
  5. anamus
  6. anan
  7. anana
  8. Ananaki
  9. ananas
  10. ananases
  11. ananasses

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.

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