overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

van.

A covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cuboid in shape, Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and longer and higher than a car but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry or a bus.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/væn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/van/British, Southern, Standard/vaːn/British, Southern, Standard/van/Northern-England, Scotland, Wales

  1. A covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cuboid in shape, Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and longer and higher than a car but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry or a bus.

  2. An enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods, such as a boxcar/box van.

    UK

  3. A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.

    dated

  4. A large towable vehicle equipped for the repair of structures that cannot easily be moved.

Where this word comes from

Short for caravan.

verb/væn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/van/British, Southern, Standard/vaːn/British, Southern, Standard/van/Northern-England, Scotland, Wales

  1. To transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).

    transitive

  2. Of law enforcement: to arrest (not necessarily in a van; derived from party van).

    Internet
Where this word comes from

Short for caravan.

noun/væn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/van/British, Southern, Standard/vaːn/British, Southern, Standard/van/Northern-England, Scotland, Wales

  1. A shovel used in cleansing ore.

Where this word comes from

From Cornish.

verb/væn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/van/British, Southern, Standard/vaːn/British, Southern, Standard/van/Northern-England, Scotland, Wales

  1. To wash or cleanse, as a small portion of ore, on a shovel.

Where this word comes from

From Cornish.

noun/væn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/van/British, Southern, Standard/vaːn/British, Southern, Standard/van/Northern-England, Scotland, Wales

  1. A fan or other contrivance, such as a sieve, for winnowing grain.

  2. A wing with which the air is beaten.

Where this word comes from

From Latin vannus (“a van, or fan for winnowing grain”): compare French van and English fan, winnow. Doublet of fan.

noun/væn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/van/British, Southern, Standard/vaːn/British, Southern, Standard/van/Northern-England, Scotland, Wales

  1. Clipping of vanguard.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping
Where this word comes from

Shortening of vanguard.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

van has 3 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

van studiovan workshello, van

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.