English

Proper noun

Khan

1. A male given name used extensively among Muslims of South Asia.
2. A surname​ derived from the given name.

Anagrams

• ankh
• hank, Hank

English

Noun

khan ‎(plural khans)

1. After Genghis Khan, a ruler over various Turkish, Tatar and Mongol peoples in the Middle Ages.
2. An Ottoman sultan.
3. A noble or man of rank in various Muslim countries of Central Asia, including Afghanistan.

Derived terms

• khanate

Translations

References

1. ↑ The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Clarendon Press, 1989.

Etymology 2

From Persian خان ‎(xân, “caravanserai”).

Noun

khan ‎(plural khans)

1. A caravanserai; a resting-place for a travelling caravan.
   • 1923, Powys Mathers, translating The Thousand Nights and One Night:

     ‘Guess the name of that,’ she said, pointing to her delicate parts. The porter tried this name and that and ended by asking her to tell him and cease her slapping. ‘The khān of Abu-Mansur,’ she replied.

   • 1958-1994, Hamilton Gibb & CF Beckingham, in The Travels of Ibn Battutah, Folio Society 2012, page 27:

     At each of these stations there is a hostelry which they call a khan, where travellers alight with their beasts, and outside each khan is a public watering-place and a shop at which the traveller may buy what he requires for himself and his beast.

See also

• caravanserai

Anagrams

• ankh
• hank, Hank

Catalan

Noun

khan m ‎(plural khans)

1. khan

Portuguese

Noun

khan m (plural khans)

1. Alternative spelling of cã