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FINNISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

vaan.

but (... instead), (but) rather (introducing a word or clause in contrast or contradiction with the preceding negative clause or sentence, wholly rejecting that clause)

4 characters1 syllables approx.Suomi language

Meaning & usage

conj/ˈʋɑːn/[ˈʋɑ̝ːn]
  1. but (... instead), (but) rather (introducing a word or clause in contrast or contradiction with the preceding negative clause or sentence, wholly rejecting that clause)

    coordinating
    Se ei ole musta, vaan punainen.
  2. yet, but (but, however; introducing a clause contrary to prior belief or in contrast with the preceding clause or sentence; generally implies a more subjective statement on part of the speaker than mutta)

    coordinating
    Vaan kuinka väärässä olinkaan.
Where this word comes from

Originally a dialectal and interchangeable variant of vain (specifically perhaps originally from the singular instructive *vajan, or directly from the plural instructive form, compare pohjaanen < *pohjainen, standard pohjoinen). A singular instructive of vaka is another possibility. The differences in use were introduced as a part of the standard language. Has also been compared with Middle Low German wan (“only, if; but; if only”), which likely served as a reinforcing influence; some have even proposed that vaan was borrowed from it.

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vaan studiovaan workshello, vaan

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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.