ลาน
open area
A native Thai recording for this word is on the way. Please check back soon.
- 1 open area、yard、courtyard、plaza
- 2 mainspring、clockwork spring
- 3 talipot palm、fan palm
This word most commonly refers to a broad, flat open area associated with a home, building, or public facility. It can also mean a mechanical mainspring or a type of fan palm traditionally used as a writing material.
open area、yard、courtyard、plaza
A broad, flat open area used for gathering, activities, work, sports, or parking, often next to a building or within a facility.
mainspring、clockwork spring
A coiled metal spring that stores energy when wound and powers a clock, toy, or similar mechanism.
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ไขลานนาฬิกา khǎy laan naalíkaa Wind the clock. ไขลานนาฬิกา details
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ของเล่นไขลาน khɔ̌ɔŋ lên khǎy laan a wind-up toy ของเล่นไขลาน details
talipot palm、fan palm
A type of fan palm with large leaves traditionally used for manuscripts and handicrafts.
Learning notes
Explanation
The central meaning is a broad, flat open area, especially one in front of or within a home, school, temple, mall, or other facility. It readily forms compounds in which the following word indicates the area's purpose, as in ลานจอดรถ (“parking lot”). In the mechanical sense, the key expression is ไขลาน, meaning to wind a clockwork spring. For the plant sense, the word commonly appears as ต้นลาน for the tree and ใบลาน for its leaves. References to ใบลาน are especially common in discussions of traditional manuscripts, history, and cultural heritage.
Usage
In everyday use, ลาน often appears in descriptions of meeting areas, school grounds, outdoor events, sports areas, and parking facilities. Its mechanical sense occurs when discussing clocks and wind-up toys, while the palm sense is mainly found in botanical, craft, historical, and manuscript-related contexts.
Caution
ลาน does not cover every kind of garden or park. Use สวน for a planted garden and normally สวนสาธารณะ for a public park. Also, the common expression for being flustered is ลนลาน; learners should not treat that expression as an ordinary use of the open-space noun ลาน.
Differences from similar words
1 open area synonyms
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สนาม commonly refers to a field or ground intended for sports or another specific activity. ลาน is broader and often describes a flat open area beside a building or within a facility, including paved spaces.
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สวน is a garden, park, or cultivated orchard and normally suggests vegetation. ลาน emphasizes an open, usable, flat space and does not imply that plants are present.