The word "scan" is spelled with the letters s, c, a, and n. The IPA phonetic transcription for "scan" is /skæn/. This represents the two sounds in the word: the initial /s/ sound followed by the short /æ/ vowel sound, and then the final /n/ sound. The spelling of "scan" follows the English language's pattern of letters corresponding to sounds. The combination of the letters s and c creates the /sk/ sound, which is present in many other English words, such as "school" and "scoop."
Scan can be used as a verb or a noun, and it refers to the action of examining or scrutinizing something closely or quickly. As a verb, it means to look over or investigate carefully, often for a specific purpose or to gather information. It involves sweeping the eyes or a device quickly over a document, picture, or text to locate or identify key details, patterns, or anomalies. For instance, one may scan a document to find specific keywords or phrases, or scan a book to quickly assess its content. Additionally, scan can be employed to describe the process of using an electronic device, such as a scanner or a barcode reader, to convert physical images or text into a digital format.
As a noun, scan refers to a detailed examination or analysis of something. It can pertain to the inspection of a medical image, such as an MRI or CT scan, by a healthcare professional to diagnose or study an illness or injury. Furthermore, in the literary context, scan can describe the metric analysis of a poem, where its rhythmic patterns and stresses are assessed and analyzed.
In summary, scan is the act of carefully looking over or examining something, either visually or electronically, in order to gather information, identify relevant details, or analyze its characteristics or structure.
To examine with critical care; to critically examine poetry by counting the feet and telling of what kind they are.
Etymological and pronouncing dictionary of the English language. By Stormonth, James, Phelp, P. H. Published 1874.
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "scan" originated from the late 14th century and has its roots in the Old Norse word "skanna", which means "to row swiftly". In Old Norse, "skanna" was specifically used to describe the act of moving a fishing boat swiftly across the water. This Norse term eventually evolved to incorporate the meaning of "to examine closely" or "to survey" in English. Over time, the word further developed to refer to the action of systematically looking over something, such as written or printed texts, images, or documents, to gather information or identify specific details.