shan
n. C / Un. a member of a group of people who live mostly in Myanmar. It can also mean the language they speak.
n. a member of a Tai-speaking ethnic group inhabiting the Shan State of Myanmar and adjacent areas of Thailand and China. When referring to the language, it is a member of the Tai-Kadai family.
The Shan people have a rich cultural history.
Many Shan communities in the border regions maintain traditional agricultural practices and unique religious festivals.
Linguistic studies of the Shan language reveal significant tonal similarities with other Tai-Kadai languages spoken across Southeast Asia and southern China.
From Burmese ရှမ်း (hram:), from Thai สยาม (sà-yǎam). Doublet of Siam.
From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin 陝／陕 (shǎn).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The word is used as a countable noun for individuals and as an uncountable noun for the language or the ethnic group as a whole.
Last updated May 7, 2026