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# wan

adjective (wan, wanner, wannest)

«wan» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Wan means pale and looking ill or tired. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#m1)
2. A wan smile is a weak, tired or sad smile. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#m2)
3. (old, poetic) Wan light is faint and weak. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#m3)
4. (Mandarin, pinyin) wǎn can mean evening or late, and wàn means ten thousand; these are not English words. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#m4)

### In the lessons

In stories it shows a character is unwell, worried or exhausted. Phrases: a wan face, a wan smile, look wan.

### Examples

- She looked wan after a week with flu. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#x1)
- He gave a wan smile and said he was fine. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#x2)
- The wan winter sun barely warmed the garden. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#x3)
- Your face is so wan — sit down and have some water. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#x4)
- The patient's cheeks were wan and thin. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#x5)
- In Mandarin, "wǎn shàng hǎo" means good evening. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/#x6)

### Note

Literary word; everyday words are pale, pasty. Rhymes with "con". Do not confuse with want or won.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «wan» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/wan/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«wan» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/wan.html) on Mova free.