tan

/tæn/

/tæn/

Other forms: tanned; tanning; tans

Tan is a light brown color you might also call "beige." If you want to brighten up your bedroom, you can paint your boring tan walls with green, yellow, and hot pink stripes.

Some people who spend a lot of time outside in the sun end up with a tan, a darker skin tone than they usually have. The verb tan means to deliberately soak up the sun in the hopes of getting a tan. You can also use tan as a verb to describe the process of making leather from animal skins: "Then I'll tan the deer hide by soaking it in this solution."

Definitions of tan

1. noun

   a light brown the color of topaz
   synonyms: topaz

   type of:

   light brown

   a brown that is light but unsaturated
2. noun

   a browning of the skin resulting from exposure to the rays of the sun
   synonyms: burn, sunburn, suntan

   type of:

   hyperpigmentation

   unusual darkening of the skin
3. adjective

   of a light yellowish-brown color
   synonyms:

   chromatic

   being, having, or characterized by hue
4. verb

   get a tan, from wind or sun
   synonyms: bronze

   types:

   suntan

   get a tan from being exposed to the sun

   type of:

   color, colour, discolor, discolour

   change color, often in an undesired manner
5. verb

   treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather
   types:

   bark

   tan (a skin) with bark tannins

   type of:

   convert

   change the nature, purpose, or function of something
6. noun

   ratio of the opposite to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle
   synonyms: tangent

   type of:

   circular function, trigonometric function

   function of an angle expressed as a ratio of the length of the sides of right-angled triangle containing the angle