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flan

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flan¹

  • /flæn/ UK
  • /flan/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /flɑn/ US

Rhymes with -æn, -ɑːn

Where it comes from

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.

noun flans

  1. Australia, UK A 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.
  2. Belize, US A dessert of congealed custard, often topped with caramel, especially popular in Spanish-speaking countries.

    Similar: crème caramel

  3. A coin die.

flan²

verb flans · flanning · flanned

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

flan³

  • /flæn/

Rhymes with -æn

Where it comes from

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

noun flans

  1. informal, slang A fan of the U.S. TV series Firefly. (some) Firefly flans call themselves Browncoats (Remember, the hot movie from Universal is out this September! :)

    Similar: Browncoat

Translations

Every language

noun baked sweet or savoury tart

Portuguêsflã

noun custard dessert

Españolflan
日本語プリン purin, フラン furan, カスタードプディング kasutādo pudingu

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{flan_2026,
  title = {flan},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/flan},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}