pan-pan
/pæn.pæn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.09 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A radio call indicating a minor emergency requiring some assistance, or priority in handling, but not endangering the safety of the vessel or those aboard.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "It should be a relatively simple matter (particularly on a modern yacht) to teach almost anyone to heave-to, take the position from an electronic navigator, then make a PAN-PAN call on the radio (see below)."
- "You can use the same outline for Pan Pan calls."
- "If you transmit a Pan-Pan call, then find that you no longer require assistance, you must cancel the message."
- "In his recent overview of occupied Japan, John Dower poignantly describes the "pan-pan girls" who offended conservatives with their willingness to trade sexual favors for the Americans' gifts and money."
- "Their fiction does, however, reflect specificiteis of post-Surrender society; the women work as maids and pan-pan, American GIs are ever-present, and shortages and disruptions are commonplace."
- "...popular perceptions of the pan-pan has given way in Ōe's series to an androcentric censure that sees the native intellectual youth as the chief victim of occupation."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
pan pan (alternative)
panpan (alternative)