# gan

Pronunciation: US say "GAN" /ɡæn/; UK

## Verb

1. To go; to move or proceed from one place to another. *(dialectal, Northumbria)*
   - Simple: To go, or to move from one place to another.
   - _We'll gan down to the coast once the tide turns._
   - _Children round here gan to school across the fields._

## Verb

2. Past tense of gin. Archaic: began. *(archaic)* — simple past of gin
   - Simple: Past tense of gin, an old word meaning begin, so gan means began.

## Origin

The regional verb for "go" is probably a variant of "gang," from Middle English "gangen" and Old English "gangan" ("to step, walk, or go"). The archaic "gan" meaning "began" is a separate word, the past tense of "gin," a Middle English shortening of "beginnen" ("to begin").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/gan (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).