nana

An aphetic form of banana.

• enPR: näʹnə, IPA^(key): /ˈnɑːnə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːnə

nana (plural nanas)

1. (informal) A banana.
2. (UK, slang) A foolish person.

   You look a right nana dressed up like that.

• 'nana, narna, narner

Variant spelling of nanna.

• enPR: nănʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈnænə/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ænə

nana (plural nanas) (informal)

1. (term of endearment) One's grandmother.
2. A nanny.

• nanna, nan

• A.A.N.N., Anna, anan, anna, naan

nana

1. grandfather

• IPA^(key): /ˈnana/ [ˈna.na]
• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: na‧na

nana

1. feminine singular of nanu

• IPA^(key): /nana/
• Hyphenation: na‧na

Unknown.

nana (Balinese script ᬦᬦ)

1. head

Unknown.

nana (ᬦᬦᬵ)

1. broken

nana

1. past of na

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnanaʔ/ [ˈn̪a.n̪aʔ]
• Hyphenation: na‧na

nanà (Basahan spelling ᜈᜈ)

1. pus

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈna.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈna.na]

nana

1. feminine singular of nan

nana f (plural nanes)

1. female equivalent of nan (“dwarf”)
2. female equivalent of nano (“boy”)
3. Clipping of estrella nana (“dwarf star”)

• nana blanca
• nana roja

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq. Compare Malay nanah.

• Hyphenation: na‧na
• IPA^(key): /ˈnanaʔ/ [ˈn̪a.n̪ɐʔ]

nana

1. (uncountable) pus

nana

1. mother.

nana

1. mother

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nana

1. (Sommepy) bread

• Tarbé, Prosper (1851) Recherches sur l'histoire du langage et des patois de Champagne‎^[2] (in French), volume 1, Reims, page 168

From Cebuano nana.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnanaʔ/, [ˈna.naʔ]
• Hyphenation: na‧na

nanà

1. (Zamboangueño) pus

   Synonym: (Caviteño, Ternateño) materia

• nanna

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nana

1. something

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nana

1. him (3rd person singular accusative)

nana

1. war

From nano (“dwarf”, noun) +‎ -a (adjective ending), ultimately from Latin nānus.

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈnana/
• Rhymes: -ana
• Hyphenation: na‧na

nana (accusative singular nanan, plural nanaj, accusative plural nanajn)

1. dwarf

From Proto-Central-Pacific *nana, from Proto-Oceanic *nanaq, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnana/

nana

1. pus (fluid found in regions of infection)

Diminutive form of Anne, Anna, popularised after Zola's 1880 novel Nana.

• IPA^(key): /na.na/

• Audio:

  (file)

nana f (plural nanas)

1. (slang) chick, bird (especially when attractive)

   Synonym: meuf

   • 2000, Frédéric Beigbeder, 99 francs‎^[3], Gallimard, →ISBN, page 19:

     Je suis le type qui vous vend de la merde. Qui vous fait rêver de ces choses que vous n’aurez jamais. Ciel toujours bleu, nanas jamais moches, un bonheur parfait, retouché sur Photoshop.

     I'm the guy who sells you shit. Who makes you dream of those things you'll never have. A sky that's always blue; chicks who are never ugly; a perfect, Photoshopped happiness.

• “nana”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• Anna

nana

1. I; the first-person singular personal pronoun

   nana da aisa'aku ― I don't know.

• Oa, Morea and Ma`oni Paul. (2014-02-24). Tentative Grammar Description for the Gabadi Language. [working paper, draft created November 2013; editor: Eileen Gasaway]. Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: SIL International. Available online: [4].
  • "nana" (1st person singular normal pronoun) - p.7
  • Example 1 - p.8

Probably with ultimate origin in baby talk.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnana̝/

nana f (plural nanas)

1. (archaic) mother; mama

• nai

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “nana”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “nana”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “nana”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “nana”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nana

1. that

   Synonym: nanda

• Ilana Mushin, A Grammar of (Western) Garrwa (2012)

naha +‎ -na

• IPA^(key): /nana/

nana

1. there

• IPA^(key): /ˈna.na/, [ˈnɐ.nə]

nana

1. Lānaʻi form of ulana (“to plait”)

nana

1. to pull

From Proto-Philippine [Term?], from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

• Hyphenation: na‧na
• IPA^(key): /ˈnana/

nana

1. pus (fluid found in regions of infection)

From Proto-Philippine [Term?], from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

nána

1. pus (fluid found in regions of infection)

• IPA^(key): /ˈna.na/
• Rhymes: -ana
• Hyphenation: nà‧na

nana

1. feminine singular of nano

nana f (plural nane)

1. female equivalent of nano (“dwarf”)

• Anna, annà

From Proto-Philippine [Term?], from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

nana

1. pus (fluid found in regions of infection)

nana

1. Rōmaji transcription of なな

From Proto-Philippine [Term?], from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnanəʔ/ [ˈnäː.nəʔ]

nánâ

1. (pathology) pus

nana

1. eight

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nana

1. I

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈnaː.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈnaː.na]

nāna f (genitive nānae); first declension

1. dwarf (female)

First-declension noun.

• nānus

• “nana”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nana”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

• nanā (Courland)

From Proto-Finnic *nenä.

nana

1. nose

• IPA^(key): /ˈnana/

nana

1. inflection of nan:
   1. genitive/accusative singular
   2. nominative dual

Borrowed from Tamil அண்ணா (aṇṇā).

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /nanə/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /nana/
• Rhymes: -anə, -nə, -ə

nana (Jawi spelling نان, plural nana-nana)

1. brother (older male sibling)

• abang
• kakak
• engko
• uda

nana

1. pus

From Proto-Polynesian *naa-naa (“to look at something”).^[1][2] Doublet of nānā.

nana

1. lo, look, see, behold (imperative).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nana

1. eyebrow

• “nana” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• (phonetic) IPA^(key): [nʲɑːnʲɑ], (enunciated) [nʲɑ nʲɑ]
• (phonemic) IPA^(key): /nʲæɰnʲæɰ/
• Bender phonemes: {nahnah}

nana

1. bad
2. wicked
3. evil
4. inedible

• Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

nanà

1. pus

nana

1. mother

Cognates include Minica Huitoto nana and Nüpode Huitoto nana.

• IPA^(key): [ˈnana]
• Hyphenation: na‧na

nana

1. all

nana

1. all, everything, everyone
   • 1988, Homenaje a la Declaracion Universal de Derechos Humanos: Huitoto Murui [Homage to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Murui Huitoto], page 8:

     Nana caɨ comuillamona dama caɨ abɨdo itɨcaɨ.

     [We] all exist alone as to our growing with our bodies.

• Shirley Burtch (1983) Diccionario Huitoto Murui (Tomo I) (Linguistica Peruana No. 20)‎^[5] (in Spanish), Yarinacocha, Peru: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 187
• Katarzyna Izabela Wojtylak (2017) A grammar of Murui (Bue): a Witotoan language of Northwest Amazonia.‎^[6], Townsville: James Cook University press (PhD thesis), page 154

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

nana (mutated form nana)

1. pus (fluid found in regions of infection)

Compare Cahuilla náxanish

• IPA^(key): /nana/

nana (plural naana)

1. man

nana

1. attributive of nanus

nana

1. skin, hide

• (Greater Poland):
  • (Kuyavia) IPA^(key): /ˈna.na/
• (Masovia):
  • (Near Masovian) IPA^(key): /ˈna.na/
• (Lesser Poland):
  • (Western Lublin) IPA^(key): [ˈna.na]

nana f

1. (Near Masovian, Łuków County, Western Lublin, Gmina Serniki, Kuyavia) alternative form of mama

• Hieronim Łopaciński (1892) “nana”, in “Przyczynki do nowego słownika języka polskiego (słownik wyrazów ludowych z Lubelskiego i innych okolic Królestwa Polskiego”, in Prace Filologiczne (in Polish), volume 4, Warsaw: skł. gł. w Księgarni E. Wende i Ska, page 220

• Rhymes: -ɐnɐ

Either imitative or from Italian nanna.

nana f (plural nanas)

1. (childish) nap; a quick or little sleep

   Synonyms: soneca, cochilo

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

nana

1. inflection of nanar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “nana”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “nana”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

nana

1. aunt

nanà

1. pus

Of expressive/onomatopoetic origin.

• IPA^(key): /nǎːna/
• Hyphenation: na‧na
• Rhymes: -ǎːna

nána f (Cyrillic spelling на́на)

1. mother
2. grandmother

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish نعنع (nane), from Arabic نَعْنَع (naʕnaʕ), نَعْنَاع (naʕnāʕ).

• IPA^(key): /nǎːna/
• Hyphenation: na‧na
• Rhymes: -ǎːna

nána f (Cyrillic spelling на́на)

1. mint

   Synonym: mètvica

• “nana”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025
• “nana”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

nana

1. pus (fluid found in regions of infection)

Ultimately imitative of a child babbling.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnana/ [ˈna.na]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: na‧na

nana f (plural nanas)

1. (Latin America) nanny

   Synonyms: niñera, ama

2. (colloquial) granny, grandmother

   Synonyms: abuela, yaya

3. (Chile) housekeeper
4. lullaby

   Synonym: canción de cuna

5. a kind of small sack
6. (dated, Guatemala) mommy; mom; mother

• tata

Borrowed from Quechua nanay (“pain”).

nana f (plural nanas)

1. (Rioplatense, Chile, childish) boo-boo

   Synonyms: pupa, yaya

2. (Rioplatense, Paraguay, chiefly in the plural) pains and aches of old age

   Synonym: achaque

• “nana”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq. Compare Malay nanah.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈnanaʔ/ [ˈn̪aː.n̪ɐʔ]
• Rhymes: -anaʔ
• Syllabification: na‧na

nanà (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜈ)

1. pus; matter

   Synonym: agwasa

From Philippine Spanish nana (“mommy”).

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈnana/ [ˈn̪aː.n̪ɐ]
• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: na‧na

nana (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜈ)

1. aunt

   Synonyms: tiya, tita, tiyang, tiyahin, ale, ante, inda

2. (obsolete, Manila) mother

   Synonyms: ina, nanay, mama

• tata

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /naˈnaʔ/ [n̪ɐˈn̪aʔ]
• Rhymes: -aʔ
• Syllabification: na‧na

nanâ (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜈ)

1. (obsolete) name of the Baybayin letter ᜈ, corresponding to "na"

• “nana”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
• Noceda, Fr. Juan José de, Sanlucar, Fr. Pedro de (1860) Vocabulario de la lengua tagala, compuesto por varios religiosos doctos y graves‎^[7] (in Spanish), Manila: Ramirez y Giraudier
• San Buena Ventura, Fr. Pedro de (1613) Juan de Silva, editor, Vocabulario de lengua tagala: El romance castellano puesto primero‎^[8], La Noble Villa de Pila
  • page 409: “Materia) Nana (pp) de la llaga [o herida]”
  • page 439: “N) Nana (pc) Vna delas letras del Abeçedario Tagalog. |. Nana yaon .|. ᜈ . Aralan mo aco nang pagſulat nang iniong Nana, enſeñame a eſcriuir bueſtra letra .N.”
  • page 487: “Podre) Nana (pp) q̃ ſale de la herida.”

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): [nana]

nana

1. bye, goodbye

• ᯉᯉ

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nanaq, from Proto-Austronesian *naNaq.

nana (Batak spelling ᯉᯉ)

1. pus (fluid found in regions of infection)

• IPA^(key): /ˈnana/

nana

1. genitive/accusative singular of nan

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nana

1. that

• Mary Laughren, Rob Pensalfini, Tom Mylne, Accounting for verb-initial order in an Australian language, in Verb First: On the syntax of verb-initial languages (2005)

nanà

1. pus; abscess

nana

1. mother.

naná

1. pus; abscess