san

plural sans

1. An Ancient Greek letter representing /s/ (uppercase Ϻ, lowercase ϻ), originally used in some dialects instead of sigma.

plural sans

1. datedinformalA sanatorium.

   ‘I was in the san for ten months before the war. I know all the gen about being sick.’

   1958, Doris Lessing, A Ripple From the Storm, HarperPerennial, published 1995, page 122

   2 more examples

   "Haven't you heard?" said Belinda. "Joan's ill! She'd got a high temperature, and she's in bed in the San."

   1940, Enid Blyton, The Naughtiest Girl in the School

   River Glade Sanatorium, River Glade, June 25, 1931. The "San" at River Glade with the Petitcodiac River in the background.

   2005, Dan Soucoup, Richard Thorne McCully, McCully's New Brunswick, page 137

alternative Saan

1. ethnicoffensivepluralplural onlyregionalslurAny of the foraging non-Bantu ethnic groups of southwestern Africa.

   Synonyms: Bushmen

1. Any of the languages spoken by these people.

1. A river in southeastern Poland and western Ukraine.

plural SANs

1. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablecomputingAcronym of storage area network.
2. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablecomputingAcronym of system area network.
3. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablecomputer securitycomputingAcronym of Subject Alternative Name.
4. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablechemistryAcronym of styrene-acrylonitrile resin.
5. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablechemistryAcronym of styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer or sytrene acrylonitrile copolymer.
6. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablebiologyAcronym of sinoatrial node.

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Straight Arrow News.

   SAN asked Sanger if, instead of allowing more sources that are deemed less reliable by media watchdogs, they should make the standards stricter and ban more outlets that have a lower reliability rating.

   2025 October 3, Ray Bogan, “Wikipedia co-founder says site has liberal bias — here’s his plan to fix that”, in Straight Arrow News, archived from the original on 04 Oct 2025

plural SAns

1. abbreviationAbbreviation of South African.

   On average it is possible that an Afrikaner is more racist than an Anglo white SAn, I have met many racist white English South Africans.

   2007, Marius, “Have you ever heard...”, in Alternate History Discussion Board