Word.ws English Dictionary

tans

tans is the plural of tan.

tans is the third-person singular simple present indicative of tan.

Meaning of tan

Noun (1)

tan (plural tans)

  1. A light, brown-like colour.
  2. A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.
    • She still has a tan from her vacation in Mexico.
  3. The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.
    • In two pints of water boil one ounce of tan, and a like portion of nutgall till reduced to a pint.1848, John Hannett, Bibliopegia, or, The Art of Bookbinding in all its branches, page 65
  4. (Alberta) Synonym of wall ball.
    Synonyms:
    wall ball

Noun (2)

tan

  1. An Armenian drink made of yoghurt and water similar to airan and doogh

Noun (3)

tan (usually uncountable, plural tans)

  1. (usually) Synonym of picul, particularly in Cantonese contexts.
    Synonyms:
    picul, particularly in Cantonese contexts

See all 18 meanings of tan

Noun capitalized: Tans

Tans pl (plural only)

  1. (Ireland, UK, plural, plural-only) The Black and Tans, a British irregular army group operating against Irish republicans in the War of Independence 1920/21.
    • Intuitively, on Bloody Sunday, the Tans recognized where their trouble lay: the Irish were playing their own game once again.1931, John Bowyer Bell, To Play the Game: An Analysis of Sport
    • Close quarter fighting did not suit them. It does not suit the Essex or the Tans.1948, Tom Barry, Guerilla^([sic]) Days in Ireland, published 1949

Phrases with tans

Words that rhyme with tans

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tans

What does tans mean?
Tans means the Black and Tans, a British irregular army group operating against Irish republicans in the War of Independence 1920/21.
What is tans the plural of?
Tans is the plural of tan.
What part of speech is tans?
Tans is a noun.

Words near tans in the dictionary

  1. tanrec
  2. tanrecs
  3. tanrogan
  4. tanrogans
  5. tanru
  6. tans
  7. tans out
  8. tans someone's hide
  9. tans up
  10. Tansey
  11. Tanseys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tans (page history and authors); Tans (page history and authors); tan (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: “tans.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tans. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.