What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Van vs San - What's the difference?

van | san |

As nouns the difference between van and san

is that van is a (covered) vehicle used for carrying goods or people, usually roughly cuboid in shape, longer and higher than a car but smaller than a truck while san is a letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet (uppercase Ϻ, lowercase ϻ) that came after pi and before qoppa.

As proper nouns the difference between van and san

is that van is a male given name, diminutive of Vance or Ivan while San is a member of the ethnically distinct, short-statured nomadic people of southern Africa.

As a verb van

is to transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).

As an abbreviation VAN

is abbreviation of lang=en|Vancouver.

As an acronym SAN is

styrene-acrylonitrile resin.

van

English

Etymology 1

Short for caravan.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A (covered) vehicle used for carrying goods or people, usually roughly cuboid in shape, longer and higher than a car but smaller than a truck.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.}}
  • (British) A railway carriage.
  • (UK, dated) A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
  • .
  • * 1667 , (John Milton), Paradise Lost , book 5, lines 588–590:
    • Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd, / Standards, and Gonfalons twixt Van and Reare / Streame in the Aire, and for distinction serve
  • * 1698 , Ned Ward, The London Spy
    • Then a bumper to the Queen led the van of our good wishes, another to the Church Established, a third was left to the whim of the toaster
  • * 1965 , translated by Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, '', book 4 ''Vir??a Parva , section 33, page 84:
    • Bh??ma then outlined the following strategy: “… Let Kar?a, clad in armour, stand in the van . And I shall command the entire army in the rear.”
  • .
    • Derived terms
    * detector van * divvy van * driving van trailer * goods van * panel van * * white van man

    See also

    * lorry * transit (UK) * truck

    Verb

    (vann)
  • To transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).
  • * 1966 , United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce:
    • I have to have a license to own them, a license to train them, my jockey has to have a license to ride them, the van company must have a license to van them, and the black shoe man must have a license to shoe them.
  • * 1999 , Bonnie Bryant, Changing Leads , p. 53:
    • [They] had their own horses, but they hadn't bothered to van them over to Pine Hollow for this outing.

    Etymology 2

    (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mining) A shovel used in cleansing ore.

    • Verb

    (vann)
  • (mining) To wash or cleanse, as a small portion of ore, on a shovel.
    • (Raymond)

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) (lena) : compare (etyl) van and English (l), (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fan or other contrivance, such as a sieve, for winnowing grain.
  • A wing with which the air is beaten.
  • * Milton
    • So Satan fell; and strait a fiery globe / Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh, / Who on their plumy vans receiv'd him soft
  • * Dryden
    • He wheeled in air, and stretched his vans' in vain; / His ' vans no longer could his flight sustain.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    san

    English

    Etymology 1

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet (uppercase ) that came after pi and before qoppa.

    • See also

    *

    Etymology 2

    sanatorium

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (dated, informal) A sanatorium.
  • * 1940 , Enid Blyton, The Naughtiest Girl in the School
    • "Haven't you heard?" said Belinda. "Joan's ill! She'd got a high temperature, and she's in bed in the San ."
  • * 2005 , Dan Soucoup, ?Richard Thorne McCully, McCully's New Brunswick (page 137)
    • River Glade Sanatorium, River Glade, June 25, 1931. The "San " at River Glade with the Petitcodiac River in the background.

    Anagrams

    * * * ----