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# nan

«nan» in Mova's school dictionary: **Grandmother; a child's name for their grandma** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a nan, nans); also nana, nanna; abbreviation NaN (computers)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (informal, UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland) Grandmother; a child's name for their grandma. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#m1)

2) naan or nan bread: a soft flat bread from South Asia (often spelt "naan"). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#m2)

3) (computers) NaN means "not a number", an error value. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#m3)

4) In Irish place names such as Tir-nan-Og, nan means "of the". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday stories and real speech: "I'm going to my nan's for tea". In the USA children more often say grandma or granny. Phrases: my nan, at my nan's, nan bread.

### examples

- I'm staying at my nan's this weekend. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#x1)
- My nan makes the best apple pie. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#x2)
- Nan, can you read me a story? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#x3)
- We had curry with nan bread. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#x4)
- Her nan is ninety and still walks every day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#x5)
- Nan and Grandad came to watch my school play. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#x6)
- One of the most pathetic, beautiful, and typical scenes in Irish legend is the return of Ossian from Tir-nan-Og, and his interview with St. Patrick. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/#x7)

### note

Capital N when used as a name: "Hi, Nan!". Lower case with "my": "my nan". It is friendly and informal, not rude. Not related to numbers except in computing, where NaN is an error, not a value.

### In the corpora

- [Scene: in Leeds, Nan is at the window with her tea.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/41-our-street-who-parked-where-and-who-won-what/8/)
- [Scene: in Dublin, Nan sees a man with a tape measure outside the Kellys' house.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/4/)
- [Vivid example: in Dublin, Nan reads that an old actor has died.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/48-famous-people-are-people/3/)
- [Let's just be sorry for them." Nan nods: "You're right, love."](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/48-famous-people-are-people/6/)
- [A palindrome reads the same forwards and backwards, such as mum, dad, Nan, level and noon.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/56-olympiad-word-puzzles-anagrams-palindromes-word-ladders/8/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «nan» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nan/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.