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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

gan en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ɡæn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ɡan/ (British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales)

Etymology

Probably a variant of gang, from Middle English gangen, from Old English gangan (“to step; walk; go”).

Meanings

  1. (North, Northumbria, Yorkshire) To go.
    • The one problem I had here was my broad Geordie accent which the teachers tried their hardest to make me lose. I couldn't understand their problem with it because I could understand myself. Whenever I told them, "Am gannin yem", they would say, "No, Christopher. It's not "am gannin yem", it's "I am going home". 2011, Chris Dockerty, Ramblings of a Geordie:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
went Tense=Past lexicographic
gans Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
gannin Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
gane Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
gawn Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
gang alternative lexicographic
Source: en.wiktionary, “gan” (verb), dump 20260902, contributors via the page history. Text licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

gan en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ɡæn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ɡan/ (British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales)

Meanings

  1. (archaic, form-of, past) simple past of gin
    form of gin