*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of AN

Derived from the first letters of army and navy.

2 source sectionsBrief source recordWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
noun

A set of sizes for screw threads agreed upon and jointly used by the United States Army and Navy.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Derived from the first letters of army and navy.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [],
  "links": [
    [
      "army",
      "army#English"
    ],
    [
      "navy",
      "navy#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A set of sizes for screw threads agreed upon and jointly used by the United States Army and Navy."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "uncountable"
      ],
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      "rawRecordSha256": "41d4f68d4b4955493c084047da4dd13ca8bd099dee3bd57fd085709dad4a52f5",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 1006791
    }
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  }
}

Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
name

Initialism of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands: a union territory of India.

noun

Initialism of author's note or authors' note. · Initialism of antinatalism. · Initialism of antinatalist.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Abbreviations.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "Initialism of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands: a union territory of India."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of",
        "initialism"
      ],
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 1006793
    },
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "Initialism of author's note or authors' note.",
        "Initialism of antinatalism.",
        "Initialism of antinatalist."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of",
        "initialism",
        "uncountable"
      ],
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}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for AN →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-QU4