pan

PAN/pæn/

Pluralpans

Verbpans, panning, panned

38 meanings of pan

Practice

1
flat cooking dishnouncountable
A metal dish or pot that you cook food in on a stove or in an oven.
Like a flat metal dish you put on the stove to cook food.
She fried the eggs in a large pan.
The pans hung on hooks above the stove.
UsageOften frying pan or baking pan.
Note
2
bad reviewverbtransitive
To say very bad things about something, especially a book or movie.
Like telling everyone that a movie was terrible.
Critics panned the movie when it came out.
Reviewers will pan a book if the ending feels rushed.
UsageOften said as was panned by critics.
Similarcriticize, condemn, blast, bash, denounce
Oppositepraise, acclaim, laud, applaud
Note
3
succeedverbintransitive
Used with out: to turn out well in the end.
Like a plan working out just the way you hoped.
We hoped the plan would pan out.
Things didn't pan out the way she expected.
UsageSay a plan didn't pan out.
Similarsucceed, work
Oppositefail, flop, fizzle
Note
4
swing the cameraverbintransitive
To move a camera slowly from side to side.
Like turning your head slowly to look across a room.
The camera panned across the crowd.
Pan slowly so the shot stays smooth.
UsageSay the camera pans across a scene.
Similarsweep, swing, swivel, turn
Note
5
look for goldverbtransitive
To wash dirt or sand in a pan to find gold.
Like washing sand in a dish to find tiny bits of gold.
Miners panned the river gravel for tiny flecks of gold.
They came west to pan dirt from the creek beds.
UsageSay pan for gold or pan a stream for gold.
Similarsift, wash
Note
6
nouncountable
A shot in a film made by moving the camera from side to side.
The movie opens with a slow pan across the desert.
Directors use a pan to show a wide scene.
UsageSay a pan across a place.
Similarsweep
Note
7
move soundverbtransitive
To make a sound seem to come from one side or speaker, or to move from one speaker to another.
Like sliding a sound from your left ear to your right.
The engineer panned the guitar to the left channel during the mix.
Pan the vocals slightly to the right so they sit beside the drums.
Note
8
verbintransitive
To move the view across an image without zooming in or out.
Like sliding a paper under a magnifying glass to look at a different part.
You can pan across the map by dragging with two fingers.
She panned around the photo to see the edges.
Similarscroll
Note

Less common meanings

9
cooked foodnouncountable
The food or other things held inside a pan.
He ate a whole pan of brownies by himself.
She poured the pan of sauce over the pasta.
Similarpanful, tray, dish
10
gold dishnouncountable
A wide, shallow dish used to wash dirt and find gold inside it.
Like a shallow bowl used to find gold in dirt.
The miner dipped his pan into the icy stream.
Old gold pans still turn up along the riverbed.
11
bad reviewnouncountable
Very harsh criticism of something.
The play got a pan from every newspaper.
Her first album received a brutal pan.
Similarslating, roasting, savaging, takedown
Oppositerave
Note
12
bed toiletnouncountable
A container used as a toilet by someone who cannot leave their bed.
The nurse brought a pan for the patient who couldn't walk.
He rang the bell whenever he needed the pan.
Similarbedpan
13
desert basinnouncountable
A low, flat hollow in the ground where water collects and often dries up, leaving salt or mud.
Like the dried-up bottom of a puddle, but spread out for miles.
The truck raced across the cracked pan under the desert sun.
Salt crystals covered the wide pan for miles.
Similarbasin
Note
14
salt pondnounabbreviationellipsis
Short form of salt pan: a shallow pond built to collect salt by letting salty water dry up.
Workers raked salt from the pan once the water had dried.
The coastal pan produced sea salt every summer.
Note
15
any genderadjectivecolloquial
Attracted to people of any gender.
She told her friends she's pan.
Being pan means you can like someone of any gender.
UsageSay someone is pan.
Similarpansexual, panromantic
16
facenounslangcountable
A person's face, often used in a joking way.
Dave and I have parted company, and I hope I never see his junky pan again.
1993, William S. Burroughs, The Letters of William S. Burroughs
"He's a foreign-looking guy with thinnish black hair and a meaty sort of pan."
1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist
UsageUsually said as your pan or his pan.
Similarmug, kisser, dial, face
Note
17
loafnounIrelandcountable
A loaf of bread, especially one baked in a loaf pan.
She bought a fresh pan from the bakery on her way home.
We toasted slices from yesterday's pan for breakfast.
UsageSay a sliced pan for sliced bread.
Similarloaf
Note
18
wash tubnounIrelandcountable
A deep plastic bowl used for washing things or preparing food.
Like a big bowl you keep by the sink for washing dishes.
She filled the pan with soapy water to wash the dishes.
He peeled the potatoes over a plastic pan.
Similarbasin, bowl, tub
Note
19
steel drumnounabbreviationellipsis
Short for steelpan: a tuned metal drum used in Caribbean music.
He played the pan in a local steel band.
Steel bands fill the streets with the bright sound of the pan.
UsageSay play the pan.
Note
20
SayPAHNUS/pɑn/UK/pɑːn/
chewed leafnounIndiauncountable
Another spelling of paan: betel leaf folded around areca nut and other fillings, chewed especially after meals.
After dinner he chewed some pan with his friends.
Many shops on the street sell pan and cigarettes.
UsageSay chew pan. The spelling paan is clearer.
Note
21
nouncountable
The small dish on an old gun that holds the gunpowder used to fire it.
He poured a little powder into the pan before taking aim.
Rain had soaked the pan, so the gun would not fire.
Note
22
scale dishnouncountable
One of the two small, flat dishes on a balance scale, where you put things or weights to weigh them.
She put the apples in one pan and small weights in the other.
The two pans of the old scale moved up and down until they were level.
23
nouncountable
The bowl and base of a toilet. In the past, the pot inside a chair used as a toilet.
Long ago, a servant emptied the pan under the toilet chair every morning.
The plumber said the pan was cracked, so we needed a new toilet.
Note
24
beat easilyverbcolloquialtransitive
To defeat someone easily and by a wide margin.
Like winning a race when no one else is even close.
Our team panned the visitors four to nothing.
They expect to pan their rivals in the final.
Similartrounce, thrash, crush, rout, hammer
25
nouncountable
The hard, bony part of the head that holds the brain.
Similarskull, head, noggin, nut, bonce
26
nounfigurativelycountable
A person's brain, thought of as the source of their thinking.
Similarbrain, mind, head, noggin, noodle
Note
27
hard soilnounabbreviationellipsis
Short form of hardpan: a hard soil layer below the surface that water and roots cannot easily pass through.
Roots struggled to break through the dense pan beneath the topsoil.
The plow struck the compacted pan a foot below the surface.
Note
28
factory boilernouncountable
A sealed container used to boil or dry liquids while making a product.
At the factory, milk is boiled down in a huge sealed pan.
The workers sealed the big steel pan, and the sugar juice boiled inside it.
Similarevaporator
29
train armnouncolloquialabbreviationclipping
Short form of pantograph: a metal arm on a train or tram roof that gets electricity from overhead wires.
The driver lowered the pan from the overhead wire before the train entered the depot.
A damaged pan left the train stranded between stations.
Note
30
nounSouth Africa
A shallow lake that appears after rain and later dries up.
31
nounobsoleteSouth Africa
A tube inside a volcano that lava moved through, or what is left of it.
32
noun
The flat low part between the ridges of a metal roof sheet.
33
noun
A small hollow cut so a hinge can sit flat.
34
verb
To turn the camera while taking a photo to get a very wide picture.
35
verb
To put pieces together so they fit.
36
noun
A piece or share.
37
noun
In old forts, one side of a pointed corner wall.
38
noun
A single very thin sheet made by beating gold or silver.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of pan apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–3, 5, 9–14, 16–19, 21–28

It comes from Old English "panne," from older Germanic words. Where it came from before that is not certain.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Pan comes from Old English panne. en.wiktionary.org
Old English panne descends from earlier Germanic forms. en.wiktionary.org
The origin before those Germanic forms is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 4, 6–8

A short form of "panorama."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

Pan is a shortened form of panorama. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 15

A short form of "pansexual" or "panromantic."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

Pan is a short form of pansexual or panromantic. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 29

A short form of "pantograph."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

Pan is a short form of pantograph. en.wiktionary.org