Kilo Lingo

le

masculine

/van/

Line drawing of van
Coloured illustration of van
#1403 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

van (vehicle); horsebox; winnowing basket

Word origin

The vehicle sense is borrowed from English 'van', itself a shortening of 'caravan'. An older, unrelated French van ('winnowing basket') comes from Latin vannus. The vehicle meaning dominates modern usage.

Origin
English
Root
van
English cognates
van, caravan

Grammar

Gendermasculine
Pluralvans

Examples

l'Europe cet .

They travelled across Europe in a van this summer.

.

The band loads all its gear into the van.

transporte .

We carry the horses in a special horsebox.

.

Our van is parked in front of the house.

'aménager .

He dreams of converting a van to go and live on the road.

Where this fits

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French · Free printables

van: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the French word "van" (van (vehicle); horsebox; winnowing basket): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 29.