ran

R1A1N1
UK, UK/ɹæn/British, Northern England, Southern, Standard, UK/ɹan/Scotland, UK, Wales/ɾan/US[ɹɛən]

noun

Yarns coiled on a spun-yarn winch.

OriginHebrew רָן →
CommonScrabble 3
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Meanings

ran1

verb
  1. pastsimple past of run
  2. pastsimple past of rin
  3. colloquialnonstandardparticiplepastpast participle of run

    " Heretics and schismatics, because they rebel against her, and only belong to the church, as deserters to an army from which they have ran away ;[…]

    1837, William Keary, Romanism exposed; or, Strictures on two lectures […] , Goddard and Brown, page 6
    2 more examples

    […]rather to convince the Underſtanding, than to be eaſily capable of being anſwered ; excuſing your ſelf that you have ran into an Error, ſo foreign as you have declared from your Intention,[…]

    1731, Philippus van Limborch, translated by Samuel Chandler, The History of the Inquisition, volume 1, page 231

    I’ve ran this event many times but in the year 2000, when we were running over the Bodmin Moor part of the course, it lashed down with large, freezing-cold hailstones.

    2012 March 5, Helen Summer, Running Crazy, John Blake Publishing, →ISBN, page 209

ran2

nounran (uncountable)
  1. uncountablenauticalYarns coiled on a spun-yarn winch.

RAN3

proper noun
  1. AustraliaabbreviationinitialismgovernmentInitialism of Royal Australian NavyFirst known use 1911 (name change).
nounRAN (uncountable)
  1. abbreviationinitialismuncountableInitialism of radio access network (“the underlying physical connection method for a radio based communication network”).

Ran4

proper noun
  1. A male given name from Hebrew.

Ran5

proper noun
  1. A female given name from Japanese.

Ran6

proper noun
  1. A surname.

Origin

Ran · proper noun

  1. Hebrewרָן
  2. EnglishRan

From Hebrew רָן (ran).

More words from Hebrew

Full word history & related roots →

Ran · proper noun

  1. Japaneseらん
  2. EnglishRan

Borrowed from Japanese らん/蘭.

More words from Japanese

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with ran

anthanjanmanplanjapanvanfananndanIranpanTaiwanAnnescanLANbantanspansudanDianeMilanclanchan
All rhymes →

Anagrams

NRANarARN
Cite this entry
APA

ran. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ran

MLA

“ran.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ran. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ran,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ran.

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