pan.
A wide, flat receptacle used around the house, especially for cooking.
Meaning & usage
A wide, flat receptacle used around the house, especially for cooking.
The contents of such a receptacle.
A cylindrical receptacle about as tall as it is wide, with one long handle, usually made of metal, used for cooking in the home.
A deep plastic receptacle, used for washing or food preparation; a basin.
A wide receptacle in which gold grains are separated from gravel by washing the contents with water.
An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially A pond or lake, considered as the expanse of land upon which the water sits.
An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially A dry lake or playa, especially a salt flat.
An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially Synonym of playa lake: a temporary pond or lake in a playa.
An expanse of level land located in a depression, especially Ellipsis of salt pan: a flat artificial pond used for collecting minerals from evaporated water.
Ellipsis of hardpan: a hard substrate such as is formed in pans.
Synonym of pipe: a channel for lava within a volcano; the cylindrical remains of such channels.
Strong adverse criticism.
A loaf of bread; a pan-loaf.
The chamber pot in a close stool; (now) the base of a toilet, consisting of the bowl and its support.
A bedpan.
A human face, a mug.
The bottom flat part of a roofing panel that is between the ribs of the panel.
A closed vessel for boiling or evaporating as part of manufacture; a vacuum pan.
The part of a matchlock, flintlock, or wheellock firearm that holds the priming.
flash in the pan
The skull, considered as a vessel containing the brain; the brainpan.
The brain, seen as one's intellect.
A recess, or bed, for the leaf of a hinge.
Ellipsis of steelpan.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree substratebor.? Pre-Greekder.? Ancient Greek πᾰτᾰ́νη (pătắnē)bor. Latin patina? Latin pannabor.? Proto-Germanic *pannǭ Proto-West Germanic *pannā Old English panne Middle English panne English pan From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ. Further origin uncertain. Alois Walde firstly suggests that it might be from Late Latin panna, from Latin patina (“broad, shallow dish, pan, stewpan”), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē, “kind of flat dish”), which is probably from Pre-Greek. But the sound shifting from /patina/ → /patna/ → /panna/ raises questions as -tn- to -nn- is rarely seen in Latin. The mainstream theory as of now (Friedrich Kluge, Julius Pokorny, Guus Kroonen) suggests that it is from Late Latin panna. But its sparse attestation only in the frontier inscriptions and not widespread in most Romance languages raises doubts among a few scholars (notably Michiel de Vaan), being skeptical about its origin, and open for any interpretations (Oxford English Dictionary). Vladmir Orel, in his work Albanian Etymological Dictionary, suggests that both Proto-Germanic *pannǭ and Late Latin panna could be from a non-IE Mediterranean substrate word, considering that classical Latin attestations are scarce and distributed in a specific region, and Proto-Germanic loanwords from non-IE substrates often include agricultural terms, seafaring vocabulary, or animal names. Although, this substrate hypothesis is controversial and most scholars remain skeptical about it. In either case of relationship to the Latin, the English word is a doublet of patina; see there for more doublets and further detail. Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna.
To wash in a pan (of earth, sand etc. when searching for gold).
To disparage; to belittle; to put down; to harshly criticize, especially a work (book, movie, etc.)
To turn out well; to be successful.
To beat one's opposition convincingly.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree substratebor.? Pre-Greekder.? Ancient Greek πᾰτᾰ́νη (pătắnē)bor. Latin patina? Latin pannabor.? Proto-Germanic *pannǭ Proto-West Germanic *pannā Old English panne Middle English panne English pan From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ. Further origin uncertain. Alois Walde firstly suggests that it might be from Late Latin panna, from Latin patina (“broad, shallow dish, pan, stewpan”), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē, “kind of flat dish”), which is probably from Pre-Greek. But the sound shifting from /patina/ → /patna/ → /panna/ raises questions as -tn- to -nn- is rarely seen in Latin. The mainstream theory as of now (Friedrich Kluge, Julius Pokorny, Guus Kroonen) suggests that it is from Late Latin panna. But its sparse attestation only in the frontier inscriptions and not widespread in most Romance languages raises doubts among a few scholars (notably Michiel de Vaan), being skeptical about its origin, and open for any interpretations (Oxford English Dictionary). Vladmir Orel, in his work Albanian Etymological Dictionary, suggests that both Proto-Germanic *pannǭ and Late Latin panna could be from a non-IE Mediterranean substrate word, considering that classical Latin attestations are scarce and distributed in a specific region, and Proto-Germanic loanwords from non-IE substrates often include agricultural terms, seafaring vocabulary, or animal names. Although, this substrate hypothesis is controversial and most scholars remain skeptical about it. In either case of relationship to the Latin, the English word is a doublet of patina; see there for more doublets and further detail. Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna.
(of a camera) To turn horizontally.
To move the camera lens angle while continuing to expose the film, enabling a contiguous view and enrichment of context. In still-photography large-group portraits the film usually remains on a horizontal fixed plane as the lens and/or the film holder moves to expose the film laterally. The resulting image may extend a short distance laterally or as great as 360° from the point where the film first began to be exposed.
To shift an image relative to the display window without changing the viewing scale.
To spread a sound signal into a new stereo or multichannel sound field, typically giving the impression that it is moving across the sound stage.
(of a sound) To move in the multichannel sound field.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of panorama.
A sequence in a film in which the camera pans over an area.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of panorama.
To join or fit together; to unite.
Where this word comes from
Of unknown origin.
A part; a portion.
The distance comprised between the angle of the epaule and the flanked angle.
A leaf of gold or silver.
Where this word comes from
From Old English. See pane.
Pansexual or panromantic.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of pansexual or panromantic.
Alternative form of paan.
Clipping of pantograph.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of pantograph.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.