ivan
/ˈaɪ.vən/
ivan is the alternative form of iwan.
Meaning of iwan
Noun
iwan (plural iwans)
- A large, vaulted chamber with a monumental arched opening on one side.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Ivan
Ivan
- A male given name from Russian of English speakers.
- Amy's husband was called Ivan. Ivan the Terrible, Barry always called him, naturally. 'Ivan? What kind of name is that?' he said to Tracy after Amy's engagement was announced. 'Bloody Russian.'
'Actually, I think it's because he had a Norwegian grandfather', Tracy said.
'Norwegian?' Barry said...2010, Kate Atkinson, Started Early, took My Dog, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 66
- Amy's husband was called Ivan. Ivan the Terrible, Barry always called him, naturally. 'Ivan? What kind of name is that?' he said to Tracy after Amy's engagement was announced. 'Bloody Russian.'
- A transliteration of the Macedonian, Pannonian Rusyn, or Russian male given name Иван (Ivan).
- Synonyms:
- Vanya
- A transliteration of the Belarusian or Ukrainian male given name Іва́н (Iván).
- A Russian.
- Ivan is yelling curses at his friends.
- Russians (collectively, personified).
- Ivan is planning an attack on our flank.
- A Soviet.
- Soviets (collectively, personified).
- I’m sure whoever was in charge must have been one of the last of the Fulda Fucktards, you know, those generals who spent their nard-drop years training to defend West Germany from Ivan.2006, Max Brooks, World War Z
- An online troll who promotes views supportive of Russian nationalism or the 2022 invasion of Ukraine; a vatnik.
- Ivan, stop repeating Kremlin propaganda.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Ivan
Ivan
- A male given name from Welsh of Welsh origin.
- Dafydd ap Ivan ap Einion, an adherent to the house of Lancaster held out, in Harlech Castle, for nine years after the accession of Edward the Fourth to the throne of England.1833, George Newenham Wright, Scenes in North Wales, T. T. and J. Tegg, page 137
Synonyms of ivan
Forms of ivan
| plural | ivans |
|---|
Origin of ivan
From Russian Ива́н (Iván), and from Ivan in several Slavic languages. Doublet of John and its relatives Evan, Giovanni, Ian, Johann, and Sean, etc.
Rare variant of Evan, from Welsh Ifan, the Welsh equivalent of John.
Words formed from ivan
Phrases with ivan
Words that rhyme with ivan
Questions about ivan
- What does ivan mean?
- Ivan means a male given name from Russian of English speakers.
- What is ivan the alternative form of?
- Ivan is the alternative form of iwan.
- What part of speech is ivan?
- Ivan is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce ivan?
- Ivan is pronounced /ˈaɪ.vən/.
Words near ivan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ivan (page history and authors); Ivan (page history and authors); iwan (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: En-au-Ivan.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ivan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ivan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.