English
roan
Roan comes from Middle French roan.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English roan
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1882, Leo de Colange, The American Encyclopaedia of Commerce: “Roan, a kind of leather used for shoes, slippers,…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600roanWiktionary, English roan
- Englishearliest quotation 1882roanWiktionary, English roan. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1882, Leo de Colange, The American Encyclopaedia of Commerce: “Roan, a kind of leather used for shoes, slippers,…”
The story
From Middle French roan, probably from Spanish roano, from Old Spanish raudano, itself probably of Germanic origin (compare Gothic *𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (*raudan), accusative of 𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (rauþs, “red”).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- ‘red’
red, ruby, rust, reddish, russel, ruddy, redness, rouse, rubric, corroborate, rowan, roux, rubella, russet, rufous, erythema, rud, ruddock, robusta, 34 more
Today it means
adj Having a coat of a dark base color with individual white hairs mixed in.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “roan”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Middle French roan / roan