Meanings
tuan1
plural tuans
- A brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), endemic to Australia.
Synonyms: common wambenger, black-tailed phascogale
tuan2
plural tuans
- South AsiaobsoleteLord; master.
"It gives you the Tuan touch. You learn to clap your hands to summon your coloured servants, instead of yelling...to drink stengahs, instead of plain whisky, to speak of lunch as tiffin...God help us!" He chuckled deeply.
1975, Xavier Herbert, Poor Fellow My Country, Sydney: Collins Publishers, published 1988, page 129
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), endemic to Australia.
Origin
tuan · noun
- Wathaurongduwan
- Englishtuan
Borrowed from Wathaurong duwan.
More words from Wathaurong
Full word history & related roots →tuan · noun
- Proto-Malayo-Polynesian*qatuan
- Malaytuan
- Englishtuan
Borrowed from Malay tuan.
More words from Malay
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
tuan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tuan
“tuan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tuan. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tuan,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tuan.
Source: tuan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.