van

See also: Appendix:Variations of "van"

English

A van (motor vehicle).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: văn, IPA(key): /væn/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æn

Etymology 1

Short for caravan.

Noun

van (plural vans)

  1. A (covered) vehicle used for carrying goods or people, usually roughly cuboid in shape, longer and higher than a car but smaller than a truck (USA) / lorry (English).
    The van sped down the road.
  2. (Britain) An enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods.
  3. (Britain, dated) A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
  4. Shortened form of caravan. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

van (third-person singular simple present vans, present participle vanning, simple past and past participle vanned)

  1. (transitive) To transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).
    • 1966, United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      I have to have a license to own them, a license to train them, my jockey has to have a license to ride them, the van company must have a license to van them, and the black shoe man must have a license to shoe them.
    • 1999, Bonnie Bryant, Changing Leads, page 53:
      [They] had their own horses, but they hadn't bothered to van them over to Pine Hollow for this outing.
  2. to be arrested by law enforcement (not necessarily in a van, derived from the slang "party van")
Synonym

See also

Etymology 2

Truncation of vanguard

Noun

van (plural vans)

  1. Shortened form of vanguard.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost‎, book 5, lines 588–590:
      Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd, / Standards, and Gonfalons twixt Van and Reare / Streame in the Aire, and for distinction serve
    • 1698, Ned Ward, The London Spy:
      Then a bumper to the Queen led the van of our good wishes, another to the Church Established, a third was left to the whim of the toaster […]
    • As for the guides, they were debarred from the pleasure of discourse, the one being placed in the van, and the other obliged to bring up the rear.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
      We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.
    • 1965, Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, “Virāṭa Parva”, in The Mahābhārata, book 4, 33, page 84:
      Bhīṣma then outlined the following strategy: “… Let Karṇa, clad in armour, stand in the van. And I shall command the entire army in the rear.”

Etymology 3

Cornish

Noun

van (plural vans)

  1. (mining) A shovel used in cleansing ore.

Verb

van (third-person singular simple present vans, present participle vanning, simple past and past participle vanned)

  1. (mining) To wash or cleanse, as a small portion of ore, on a shovel.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Raymond to this entry?)

Etymology 4

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

Noun

van (plural vans)

  1. A fan or other contrivance, such as a sieve, for winnowing grain.
  2. A wing with which the air is beaten.

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch van (“from; of”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fan/

Preposition

van

  1. of
  2. from

Particle

van

  1. (used with a following definite article) some of (the)
    Van die wêreld se beste wyne kom van hierdie streek af.
    Some of the world’s best wines are from this region.
    Ons het met van die belangrikste politieke leiers gespreek.
    We have spoken to some of the most important political leaders.

Catalan

Pronunciation

Verb

van

  1. third-person plural present indicative form of anar

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse vanr (pl vanir (“one of two groups of gods in Norse mythology”)).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vaːn/, [væːˀn]

Noun

van c (singular definite vanen, plural indefinite vaner)

  1. one of the Vanir
Inflection

Etymology 2

From English van.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vaːn/, [væːn]

Noun

van c (singular definite vanen, plural indefinite vaner)

  1. van
Inflection

Etymology 3

From Old Norse vanr (“wont, accustomed”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /van/, [van]

Adverb

van

  1. (dated) pleje van – nurse, take care of

Usage notes

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch van, from Old Dutch fan (“from”), from Proto-Germanic *fanē, from Proto-Indo-European *pone, *pana (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *apo-, *pā- (“off, of”). Cognate with Old Saxon fana, fan (“from”), Old Frisian fan, fon (“from”), Old High German fona, fon (“from”).

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɑn
  • IPA(key): /vɑn/
  • (Northern) [fɑn]
  • (Suriname) [fan]
  • Audio (NL)(file)

Preposition

van

  1. of (possession, property)
    de hoed van het meisje
    the hat of the girl
    het gewicht van een olifant
    the weight of an elephant
  2. of (general association)
    Zij was van adel.
    She was of noble stock.
    een stad van één miljoen inwoners
    a city of one million inhabitants
    Hij is een man van eer.
    He's a man of honour.
    Dat is hier niet van toepassing.
    That's not applicable here.
    de trein van tien uur
    the train of ten o'clock
  3. by, of (creator)
    een schilderij van Rubens
    a painting by Rubens
    een plaat van de Beatles
    a record of the Beatles
  4. from (origin)
    Hij komt van Griekenland.
    He's from Greece.
  5. from (starting point of a movement or change)
    Hij ging van deur tot deur.
    He went from door to door.
    van vader op zoon.
    from father to son.
  6. from (starting point in time)
    van toen af aan.
    from then onwards
    van 's avonds laat tot 's morgens vroeg
    from late at night till the early morning
    van dag tot dag
    from day to day
  7. from, off (removal of something from off something else)
    het vlees van de beenderen snijden.
    to cut the meat from the bones
  8. of, out of, from, with (cause)
    sidderen van angst
    to tremble with fear
    tranen van geluk
    tears of joy
  9. of, out of, with (material or resource)
    Deze tafel is gemaakt van hout.
    This table is made (out) of wood.
    Van dit geld kan ik een basgitaar kopen.
    With this money I'm able to buy a bass.
  10. of, out of, among (out of a larger whole; partitive)
    de jongste van zijn dochters
    the youngest of his daughters
    Van alle mensen ben ik de mooiste.
    Out of all people I am the most beautiful.
    Drink niet te veel van dat bier, het is erg sterk.
    Don't drink too much of that beer, it is very strong.
  11. from, was, formerly (indicating a change in price)
    van 5 €, voor 3 €
    was €5, now €3

Inflection

Derived terms

Adverb

van

  1. of, from
    Ik neem er tien van. — I’ll take ten of them.
  2. from
    Ik vertrek van daar. — I’ll start from there.
  3. by, from
    Ik word er gek van. — It drives me crazy.
    Men wordt daar sloom van. — It turns one numb.
  4. of, about
    Wat zegt u daar van? — What do you say about that?
    Ik weet daar niks van. — I don’t know anything about that.

Derived terms

See also

French

Etymology

Latin vannus

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vɑ̃/

Noun

van m (plural vans)

  1. a winnowing basket

Further reading

Galician

Etymology

From a variant of Old Portuguese vão, from Latin vānus (“empty”)

Adjective

van m (feminine singular va, masculine plural vans, feminine plural vas)

  1. empty, devoid of content, containing only air
  2. useless, ineffective
  3. (of a person) vacuous, trivial-minded

Noun

van m (plural vans)

  1. waist
  2. empty, vacant

Verb

van

  1. third-person plural present indicative of ir

Gallo

Noun

van m (plural vans)

  1. (agriculture) winnowing machine

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French vent (“wind”)

Noun

van

  1. wind

Hungarian

Etymology

From Old Hungarian vagyon. See Hungarian volt.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈvɒn]
  • Audio(file)

Verb

van

  1. be, exist
  2. have; someone -nak/-nek has something -ja/-je
    Péternek van egy kutyája.
    Peter has a dog.
  3. there is
    Van itt valaki?
    Is there anybody here?
  4. to be (auxiliary verb indicating a type of passive voice along with the adverbial participle form of the main verb)
    A probléma még nincs megoldva.
    The question isn't yet solved.
    1846, Arany János, Toldi,, canto 6, stanza 13:
    "Szakmány módra van rám mérve minden óra: / Jöttem kegyelmedhez búcsuvevő szóra."
    "Every hour is measured as though by contract. / I come to bid you now farewell."

Usage notes

  • Omission of van and vannak:
    When using with an adjective (qualification) or when using with a noun (either with the definite or the indefinite article), the forms van and vannak are not used (their place is left empty).
    Béla okos. - Béla is clever.
    Béla a király. - Béla is the king.
    Béla egy ember. - Béla is a human.
    It still appears if van/vannak is the focus of the sentence. This happens when the sentence means that the property described by the adjective (e.g. strength) reaches or exceeds some specified level and this is emphasized by the speaker. In this case, the adjective is preceded by a word like olyan (such), annyira (that much), elég (enough).
    Béla van annyira erős, hogy felemelje a szekrényt. - Béla is strong enough to lift the cupboard.
    The forms other than van and vannak are always used.
    Béla okos volt. - Béla was clever.
    Okos vagyok. - I am clever.
    Otherwise, all forms are used:
    With adverbs and adverbial participles (suffixed -va/-ve)
    Hogy van? - How is he? (also 'How are you?', formal singular)
    El van törve. - It is broken.
    Using in the "exists" or "there is" sense (and so with have, which is expressed by there is in Hungarian)
    Van egy ház a hegyen. - There is a house on the mountain.
    Van egy kutyám. - I have a dog.
  • The negative form is nincs or nincsen instead of * nem van, and sincs or sincsen instead of * sem van
    Nincs pénzem. - I don't have any money.
    Itt sincs étel. - There isn't any food here either.

Conjugation

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

(With verbal prefixes):

(Expressions):

Interlingua

Adjective

van (comparative plus van, superlative le plus van)

  1. vain, futile
  2. vain, worthless
  3. vain, conceited

Manx

Etymology

Borrowed from English van.

Noun

van f (genitive singular van, plural vannyn)

  1. van (vehicle)

Synonyms

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch fan, from Proto-Germanic *fanē.

Preposition

van

  1. of
  2. from (a place, person)
  3. from (a time)
  4. out of
  5. from, out of, because of

Descendants

Further reading

  • “van”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • “van (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

Portuguese

Noun

van f (plural vans)

  1. van (a covered vehicle used for carrying goods)

Synonyms

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vānus, Italian vano.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /van/

Adjective

van m, n (feminine singular vană, masculine plural vani, feminine and neuter plural vane)

  1. vain
  2. futile
  3. idle
  4. fruitless
  5. vainglorious

Declension

Derived terms

  • în van

See also

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *vъnъ

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʋân/

Conjunction

vȁn (Cyrillic spelling ва̏н)

  1. except

Etymology 2

From Proto-Slavic *vъnъ

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʋân/

Preposition

vȁn (Cyrillic spelling ва̏н) (+ genitive case)

  1. in front of, before
    van kuće ― outside, outdoors
  2. out of
    van zemlje ― abroad

Etymology 3

From Proto-Slavic *vъnъ

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʋâːn/
  • Rhymes: -âːn

Adverb

vȃn (Cyrillic spelling ва̑н)

  1. out, outside, outdoors

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin vadunt, third-person plural present indicative of vadō (“I go”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ban/, [bãn]

Verb

van

  1. Second-person plural (ustedes) present indicative form of ir.
  2. Third-person plural (ellos, ellas, also used with ustedes?) present indicative form of ir.

Noun

van m (plural vanes)

  1. van (vehicle)

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse vanr, from Proto-Germanic *wanaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wāno-.

Pronunciation

  • audio(file)

Adjective

van (comparative vanare, superlative vanast)

  1. accustomed to; used to, have the habit to
    Han är van vid att stiga upp klockan sju varje morgon.
    “He is used to getting up at seven every morning.”
  2. experienced, adept
    Hon är en van bilförare.
    “She is an experienced driver.”

Antonyms

Derived terms

  • med van hand

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Verb

van (呅, 𠹚, 𠺺)

  1. to beg
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French valve.

Noun

van

  1. valve

Etymology 3

Borrowed from French valse.

Noun

van

  1. waltz
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