Word
jan
Phoneticsjan
/ˈdʒæn/
Definition
n. Stands for January.
n. Abbreviation for January. It is the standard three-letter shortening used in administrative and calendar contexts.
Examples
“The winter sale starts on Jan 1st.”
“The deadline for the project is Jan 15, so we need to finish the draft by next week.”
“While the full name is preferred in formal correspondence, Jan is frequently used in technical documentation and spreadsheet headers to save horizontal space.”
Examples
simple
“The winter sale starts on Jan 1st.”
contextual
“The deadline for the project is Jan 15, so we need to finish the draft by next week.”
complex
“While the full name is preferred in formal correspondence, Jan is frequently used in technical documentation and spreadsheet headers to save horizontal space.”
Usage
Usually written with a capital 'J' and often followed by a period (Jan.) in formal American English.
Teaching tip
While common in writing and on forms, people rarely say 'Jan' out loud; they usually say the full word 'January'.
Etymology
From Old French Jehan (“John”). Doublet of John.
A clipping or hypochoristic form of Janet, Janice, Janine, Janis, etc. Doublet of Ivanka, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna.
From various European languages, ultimately from Latin Johannes.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/jan