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naan or nan

(nän, năn)

A flat, leavened bread of northwest India, made of wheat flour and baked in a tandoor.

[Hindi and Urdu nān, bread, from Persian, from Middle Persian, from Old Persian *nagna-, probably originally meaning "naked, bare" (from being baked uncovered in an oven rather than covered in ash as other types of bread); see nog^w- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

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naan

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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