Etymology

san

S1A1N1

Today it means: An Ancient Greek letter representing /s/ (uppercase Ϻ, lowercase ϻ), originally used in some dialects instead of sigma. Full definition →

Ancient Greek σάν ← Semitic
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san · noun1

  1. Semitic · derived from
  2. Ancient Greek · borrowed fromσάν
  3. English todaysan

From Ancient Greek σάν (sán), from a Semitic language.

san · noun2

Shortening of sanatorium.

San · noun, proper noun3

  1. Khoekhoe · derived fromsaan
  2. English todaySan

As a synonym of Bushmen introduced into ethnology from the 1960s, from Khoekhoe saan (singular saa) "foragers; people without wealth", via back-formation from Khoisan. Occasional citation as the Nama term for "Bushmen" from the 1880s.

San · proper noun4

  1. Polish · borrowed fromSan
  2. Polish · borrowed fromSan
  3. English todaySan

Borrowed from Polish San.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekσάν all →

tsan

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.