Shan
/ʃɑːn/noun
A member of the Tai ethnic group concentrated mainly in Myanmar, or the Tai language spoken by this people.
Did you know?“Shan” is an outsider name: Shan communities commonly use Tai Yai, while “Shan” entered English largely through Burmese and colonial-era usage.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Tai period
Proto-Tai
*tai
“An ancestral ethnonym associated with Tai peoples; the precise relationship to the outsider name Shan is uncertain.”
Pre-modern period
Shan
Tai Yai
““Great Tai,” a major self-designation used by Shan communities.”
Medieval period
Burmese
ရှမ်း (shan)
“The Burmese name for the Shan people and their language.”
19th Century
English
Shan
“An English ethnonym adopted through descriptions of peoples and territories in Burma.”
Modern English
English
Shan
“A member of the Shan people, or the Shan language.”