flan

F4L1A1N1
UK/flæn/British, Northern England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/flan/US/flɑn/

noun

A baked tart with a sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case.

Similar
crème caramelBrowncoat
OriginFrench flan ← Spanish flan ← Old French flaon →
UncommonScrabble 7
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

flan1

nounflan (plural flans)

plural flans

  1. AustraliaUKA baked tart with a sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case.

    The menu includes a number of excellent fish dishes such as the […] broccoli flan.

    2004, Shawn Blore, Alexandra de Vries, Frommer's Brazil, →ISBN, page 175
  2. BelizeUSA dessert of congealed custard, often topped with caramel, especially popular in Spanish-speaking countries.

    Synonyms: crème caramel

  3. hobbiesA coin die.

flan2

verbflan (third-person singular simple present flans, present participle flanning, simple past and past participle flanned)

present singular third person flans · participle present flanning · participle past flanned · past flanned

  1. architectureTo splay or bevel internally, as a window-pane.

flan3

nounflan (plural flans)

plural flans

  1. informalslanglifestyleA fan of the U.S. TV series Firefly.

    For what it's worth, I'm 27 and am a huge Firefly/Serenity flan.

    2006 June 18, Geoff Aldrich, “Re: SciFi promotion [Was Firefly fans skew older?]”, in alt.tv.firefly (Usenet)
    2 more examples

    (some) Firefly flans call themselves Browncoats (Remember, the hot movie from Universal is out this September! :)

    2005 January 29, P. Burrows, “Re: Name for Lost fans?”, in rec.arts.sf.tv (Usenet)

    I'm glad this wasn't the first flan group I came across or I would never have realised the great nature of the majority of browncoasts.^([sic])

    2007 January 21, Tal, “Re: Nude Jewel Staite? Close enough.”, in alt.tv.firefly (Usenet)

    Synonyms: Browncoat

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA dessert of congealed custard, often topped with caramel, especially popular in Spanish-speaking countries.

Similar
crème caramel

nounA fan of the U.S. TV series Firefly.

Similar
Browncoat
Also see
browncoatcoin diecrème caramel

Origin

flan · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleth₂-“broad, flat”
  2. Frankish*flaþō“flat cake”
  3. Late Latinfladō“flat cake”
  4. Old Frenchflaon
  5. Spanishflan
  6. Frenchflan“cheesecake, custard tart, flan”
  7. Englishflan

Borrowed around 1846 from French flan (“cheesecake, custard tart, flan”), or in some uses (in reference to Spanish/Latin American flans) later from Spanish flan (itself from the French), both from Old French flaon (whence also Middle English flaon, flaun (“pie; cake”)), from Late Latin fladō (“flat cake”), from Frankish *flaþō (“flat cake”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“broad, flat”); compare German Fladen. Akin to Old High German flado (“flat cake, offering cake”). Doublet of flathe. Although the -n is generally believed to derive from the Late Latin accusative form (fladonem) of fladō (“flat cake”), it might alternatively derive from an inflected form of the Frankish word (such as the Frankish accusative *flaþan, or the like). For a similar case, see garden.

More words from French, Spanish, Old French

Full word history & related roots →

flan · noun

English, from a slip of the tongue by actor Nathan Fillion.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian плодова пита
  • плодова пита (plodova pita)baked sweet or savoury tart
Esperanto flano, flaŭno
  • flanobaked sweet or savoury tart
  • flaŭnocustard dessert
Finnish avoin torttu, karamellivanukas
  • avoin torttubaked sweet or savoury tart
  • karamellivanukascustard dessert
Icelandic bakaður búðingur
  • bakaður búðingurbaked sweet or savoury tart
Indonesian flan
  • flanbaked sweet or savoury tart
Japanese プリン, フラン
  • プリン (purin)custard dessert
  • フラン (furan)custard dessert
  • カスタードプディング (kasutādo pudingu)custard dessert
Portuguese flã
  • flãbaked sweet or savoury tart
Spanish flan
  • flancustard dessert

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with flan

anthanjanmanplanjapanvanfangoneanndanIranjeanpanTaiwanPakistanAnnescanranLANbanjuantanspan
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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