ean

E1A1N1

verb

To bring forth young; to yean.

OriginMiddle English enen ← Old English ēanian ← Proto-West Germanic *aunōn →
Less commonScrabble 3
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Meanings

ean1

verbean (third-person singular simple present eans, present participle eaning, simple past and past participle eaned)

present singular third person eans · participle present eaning · participle past eaned · past eaned

  1. obsoletetransitiveTo bring forth young; to yean.

    That I was shipp'd at sea, I well remember, Even on my eaning time; but whether there Deliver'd, by the holy gods, I cannot rightly say.

    c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]

EAN2

proper noun
  1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of European Article Numbering: a barcode symbology whose main variant, EAN-13, encodes thirteen digits, differing from UPC-A in that three of the digits in the left half are reversed so as to encode an additional digit.
  2. abbreviationacronymdivingAcronym of enriched air nitrox.

Ean3

proper noun
  1. A male given name from Manx.

    Ms. Chimelis’s 14-year-old son, Ean, saw a severed limb as police investigators collected evidence.

    2022 October 8, Chelsia Rose Marcius, “As New York’s Fear of Crime Grows, a Neighborhood Lives With Its Reality”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Oct 2022
    2 more examples

    Survived by daughter Stevi Lischin (Robert Smith), sons Brian (Diana) and Jeffrey (Diane Savona), brother Eugene Adler, grandchildren Ean, Joe, Elyssa and Mahlon.

    2008 October 15, “[Paid Notice: Deaths] Lischin, Ruth”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

    In the Celtics press conference room Thursday night, Al Horford’s young son, Ean, looked up at his father, taking in every word.

    2023 January 20, Jay King, “Celtics show mindset to overcome mistakes, hold off Warriors for overtime win”, in The Athletic, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2026

Origin

ean · verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ewg-“to increase”
  2. Proto-Germanic*aukô“increase”
  3. Old Englishēacnian“to add, increase, be enlarged, be augmented, become pregnant, conceive, bring forth, produce”
  4. Proto-Germanic*aunōną“to bring forth lambs”
  5. Proto-West Germanic*aunōn
  6. Old Englishēanian“to yean, bring forth young, bring forth lambs”
  7. Middle Englishenen
  8. Englishean

From Middle English enen, from Old English ēanian (“to yean, bring forth young, bring forth lambs”), from Proto-West Germanic *aunōn, from Proto-Germanic *aunōną (“to bring forth lambs”). An alternate etymology derives the Old English word from a corruption of Old English ēacnian (“to add, increase, be enlarged, be augmented, become pregnant, conceive, bring forth, produce”), from ēacen (“increased, augmented”), from ēaca (“an addition, increase, eeking”), from Proto-Germanic *aukô (“increase”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- (“to increase”). More at eke.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Ean · proper noun

  1. ManxEan
  2. EnglishEan

From Manx Ean, an equivalent of John.

More words from Manx

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ean. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ean

MLA

“ean.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ean. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ean,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ean.

Source: ean on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.