1 guan | Definition of guan
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guan

noun
\ ˈgwän How to pronounce guan (audio) \

Definition of guan

: any of various large gregarious neotropical birds (family Cracidae) that are chiefly arboreal forest-dwellers and that somewhat resemble turkeys

Illustration of guan

Illustration of guan

Examples of guan in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

 Ground-foraging birds like guans can still hear the frogs’ calls. — Lakshmi Supriya, Science | AAAS, "These tiny frogs can’t hear their own mating songs," 26 Sep. 2017 Ziegler observes butterflies and damselflies and bees that never descend to the ground, and dozens of species of birds: barbets, paradise tanagers, scarlet macaws that arrive in pairs, and fat, piping guans, which look like elegant turkeys. — National Geographic, "One Tiny Wasp Turns a Fig Tree Into a 150-Foot-High Eden," 29 Sep. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'guan.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of guan

1743, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for guan

alteration of earlier quam, probably from Kuna (Chibchan language of Panama) kwama

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Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with guan

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