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alan

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alan¹

noun alans

  1. alternative Alternative form of alaunt

Alan²

  • /ˈæl.ən/

Rhymes with -ælən

Where it comes from

From Old Breton Alan, name of early Breton saints, of disputed origin and meaning; brought to England by Normans. It may have been the name of a Celtic deity, the brother of Bran, Welsh Alawn, Alun. As an early Irish name, perhaps connected with ail (“noble”). Compare French Alain.

proper noun Alans · Allan · Allen · Alen

  1. A male given name from the Celtic languages. He grabbed at Alan by his Adam's apple, And Alan grabbed him back in furious grapple And clenched his fist and bashed him on the nose.
  2. A surname.

Alan³

  • /ˈæl.ən/

Rhymes with -ælən

Where it comes from

From Latin Alānī, from Ancient Greek Ἀλανοί (Alanoí), from Proto-Sarmatian *Āllān.

noun Alans · Alani

  1. historical A member of a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.

Alan⁴

  • /ˈæl.ən/

Rhymes with -ælən

proper noun Alans

  1. A male given name from Hebrew, variant of Elon.

ALAN⁵

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism, uncountable Initialism of artificial light at night Skyglow is a form of artificial light at night (ALAN) whereby the atmosphere scatters light back to Earth, creating a glowing dome of diffused light that can extend hundreds of kilometres into the sea.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: aaron, field, boy, area, buddy, ellen, sector, sphere, ala, far, now, industry, alana, charlie, tommy, françois

Translations

Every language

name male given name

EspañolAlano, Alán
中文艾倫 /艾伦 Àilún
PortuguêsAlan
FrançaisAlain
ItalianoAlano
ΕλληνικάΑλανός Alanós, Αλάν Alán
РусскийА́лан Álan

noun member of a Sarmatian tribe

Españolalano
Portuguêsalano
DeutschAlanen
Русскийала́н alán

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Cite this
MLA

"alan." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/alan. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

alan. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/alan

Chicago

"alan." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/alan.

BibTeX
@misc{alan_2026,
  title = {alan},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/alan},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}