Ian

¹

[ ee-uhn, ee-ahn, ahy-uhn ]

noun

1. a male given name, Scottish form of John.

-ian

²

1. a suffix with the same meaning and properties as -an, though -ian is now the more productive of the two suffixes in recent coinages, especially when the base noun ends in a consonant: Orwellian; Washingtonian .

-ian

suffix

1. a variant of -an

   Johnsonian

   Etonian

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ian¹

Extracted from Latin loanwords in which -ānus (adjective suffix) is joined to stems ending in i; -an

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ian¹

from Latin -iānus

Example Sentences

Ian could get totally destroyed if he plays like himself — or he could win a lot of games and win the match if he plays like himself.

From FiveThirtyEight

Local police have charged one student with misdemeanor assault, but Ian’s mother says she doesn’t know how to keep him safe.

From Washington Blade

Ian was in a phase one study, where he was given the highest dose Moderna was testing.

From FiveThirtyEight

Judy, Ian’s mother, participated in a phase three trial, despite the fact that her partner was skeptical of vaccination.

From FiveThirtyEight

Ian parameterized the two tangent points by the angles they made within the circle — 𝜃2 and 𝜃3 in the diagram below — and then calculated the area of the remaining top right quarter-square after both cuts were made.

From FiveThirtyEight

Yes, the original Bond, as imagined by Ian Fleming, was obviously white.

From The Daily Beast

The medical record, from an Ebola case, made for grim reading, but Dr. Ian Crozier could not put it down.

From The Daily Beast

He went on to thank his family, his gallerist, distributor, and paid tribute to artist Ian White.

From The Daily Beast

Oh, and that his profile on Twitter and his name elsewhere say “Ian Miles Cheong” whereas mine says “Arthur Chu.”

From The Daily Beast

Update: Ian Sams, a spokesman for the DNC, has informed me that the airbone creature was, a Cliff Hawk.

From The Daily Beast

"Headmen" they have, leaders of various degrees of authority, but no Vich Ian Vohr, no semi-sacred representative of the tribe.

From Project Gutenberg

Ophid′ian, Ophid′ious, pertaining to serpents: having the nature of a serpent.

From Project Gutenberg

Sheumais must wait till Ian Macarthur came back again, which might be any day now.

From Project Gutenberg

She was at Ranza-Mr, and when a shadow came into the dairy where she was standing she looked up, and saw Ian before her.

From Project Gutenberg

Before the great venture began Sir Ian Hamilton had to throw the enemy off the scent.

From Project Gutenberg