vane

Meaning

1. A weather vane.
2. Any of several usually relatively thin, rigid, flat, or sometimes curved surfaces radially mounted along an axis, as a blade in a turbine or a sail on a windmill, that is turned by or used to turn a fluid.
3. The flattened, web-like part of a feather, consisting of a series of barbs on either side of the shaft.
4. A sight on a sextant or compass.
5. One of the metal guidance or stabilizing fins attached to the tail of a bomb or other missile.

Synonyms

weather vane

blade

weathercock

weathervane

wind vane

web

paddle

fan

wing

🪽

ala

foil

folium

hand

✋

lamina

leaf

limb

lobe

pennon

pinion

sail

ventilator

vexillum

leaf blade

peep-sight

breech-sight

wind cone

weather-vane

hairline pointer

aiming device

beater blade

guidance unit

fluid director

rear finder

wheel blade

weaverbird

annexe

banner

blower

deflector

ell

fin

finder

flag

flank

Pronounced as (IPA)

/veɪn/

Etymology

From Middle English vane, Southern Middle English variant of fane, from Old English fana (“cloth, banner, flag”), from Proto-West Germanic *fanō, from Proto-Germanic *fanô, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (“something woven; weave; tissue; fabric; cloth”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foone (“flag, banner”), Dutch vaan (“banner, flag”), German Low German Fahn (“flag”), German Fahne. Doublet of obsolete fane (“weathercock; banner”) and fanon.