Dictionary
an
Pronunciation: (un; when stressed an), [key]indefinite article.
the form of
a before an initial vowel sound (
an arch; an honor) and sometimes, esp. in British English, before an initial unstressed syllable beginning with a silent or weakly pronounced
h:
an historian. an
Pronunciation: (un; when stressed an), [key]—
conj.
1. Pron. Spelling.and.
2. Archaic.if.
Also,an','n,'n'.An
Pronunciation: (än), [key]—
n.
the Sumerian god of heaven: the counterpart of the Akkadian Anu.
an-
a prefix occurring before stems beginning with a vowel or
h in loanwords from Greek, where it means “not,” “without,” “lacking” (
anarchy; anecdote); used in the formation of compound words:
anelectric. Also, before a consonant,a-.an-
var. of
ad- before
n: announce.an-
var. of
ana- before a vowel:
anion. -an
a suffix occurring originally in adjectives borrowed from Latin, formed from nouns denoting places (
Roman; urban) or persons (
Augustan), and now productively forming English adjectives by extension of the Latin pattern. Attached to geographic names, it denotes provenance or membership (
American; Chicagoan; Tibetan), the latter sense now extended to membership in social classes, religious denominations, etc., in adjectives formed from various kinds of noun bases (
Episcopalian; pedestrian; Puritan; Republican) and membership in zoological taxa (
acanthocephalan; crustacean). Attached to personal names, it has the additional senses “contemporary with” (
Elizabethan; Jacobean) or “proponent of ” (
Hegelian; Freudian) the person specified by the noun base. The suffix
-an, and its variant
-ian, also occurs in a set of personal nouns, mainly loanwords from French, denoting one who engages in, practices, or works with the referent of the base noun (
comedian; grammarian; historian; theologian); this usage is esp. productive with nouns ending in
-ic (
electrician; logician; technician). See
-ian for relative distribution with that suffix. Cf.
-enne, -ean, -arian, -ician.AN
Anglo-Norman.
Also,A.-N.An
—
Symbol, Chem.
actinon.
an.
in the year.
A.N.
1. Anglo-Norman.
2. Associate in Nursing.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
