Etymology

roan

R1O1A1N1

Today it means: Having a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in. Full definition →

Middle French roan ← Spanish roano ← Old Spanish raudano
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The story

  1. Old Spanish · derived fromraudano
  2. Spanish · derived fromroano
  3. Middle French · derived fromroan
  4. English todayroan

From Middle French roan, probably from Spanish roano, from Old Spanish raudano, itself probably of Germanic origin (compare Gothic *𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (*raudan), accusative of 𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (rauþs, “red”). Compare rowan.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.