Gan

/ɡæn/ verb

Definition

Past tense of 'go' in some dialects, particularly Scottish English; to go or walk.

Etymology

From Old English 'gān,' meaning to go or walk. This is the archaic or dialectal past tense that survives in Scottish and Northern English speech, though 'went' became the standard past tense in Modern English.

Kelly Says

It's wild that English speakers said 'gan' for centuries, but most people switched to 'went' by the 1400s—yet this old word lives on in Scottish dialects today, showing how language change isn't instant but happens region by region.

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