Sans

Part of speech: preposition

Pronunciation: /sænz/

Definitions

1. Indicating the absence of something, often used to express 'without' in relation to an item or quality
2. Expressing the state of missing or being devoid of a particular element or characteristic
3. Used to signify exclusion or lack, typically to show that one thing does not have another

Etymology: The preposition "sans" arrived in English from Old French, where "sans" and its variants "senz" and "sens" meant "without." The Old French form came from Latin "sine," also meaning "without," but it was not a straightforward inheritance. Along the way, the Latin word appears to have merged with "absens," meaning "absent" or "remote," and the blend gave French a word that carried both ideas of lacking and being away. English took the word in Middle English as "saunz" or "sans," and it kept its sense of simple lack for centuries. The same Latin source produced its relatives across Romance languages, so French "sans," Italian "senza," Portuguese "sem," and Spanish "sin" all share this ancestry. English has used "sans" mainly in fixed phrases and formal or literary writing, such as "sans serif" for typefaces without decorative strokes, where it still means exactly what it meant in Old French: without.

Synonyms: without