ian
/ˈiː.ən/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.32 in modern English
3
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
2
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A male given name from Scottish Gaelic Eòin, equivalent to English John.
Example Sentences
- "“If you want a Scotch name why don’t you call him Jock?” Macgregor looked disgusted. “Because Jock is not a name, but a diminutive, as everybody knows well. It is the diminutive of John. And John is not a Scots name. The Scots form of that name is Ian. If you want to call him Ian Fetch, I shall say no more”."
- "After an inquest's ruling yesterday, it is now official that the newspaper vendor, Ian Tomlinson, was unlawfully killed amid the policing of the G20 protests in 2009. Many who saw the footage the Guardian obtained, which showed PC Simon Harwood striking Mr Tomlinson just before his death, will regard the verdict as a statement of the blindingly obvious."
Etymology
Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic Eòin.