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sans

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sans¹

  • /sænz/ UK, US
  • /sɑ̃/ UK, US

Sounds like sands (some speakers) · Rhymes with -ænz

Where it comes from

From Middle English saunz, sans, borrowed from Old French sans, senz, sens, from Latin sine (“without”) conflated with absēns (“absent, remote”). Compare French sans, Italian senza, Portuguese sem, and Spanish sin.

preposition

  1. defective, humorous, literary, often Without; lacking; especially with regard to something expected or with precedent. Bero[wne]. […] And to begin Wench, ſo God helpe me law, My loue to thee is ſound, ſance cracke or flaw. Roſa[line]. Sans, ſans, I pray you.

    Similar: minus, without

adjective

  1. abbreviation, ellipsis, not comparable Ellipsis of sans serif

sans²

Where it comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

noun

  1. plural plural of san

SAns³

noun

  1. plural plural of SAn

SANs⁴

noun

  1. plural plural of SAN

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: serif, san, minus, without, saint, not, lacking, free, apostolos, sint, bereft, devoid, absent, apart, short, missing

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{sans_2026,
  title = {sans},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sans},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}