shan

noun, plural Shans, (especially collectively) Shan.

1. a group of Mongoloid tribes in the hills of Burma.
2. a language spoken in the Shan States and belonging to the Tai group of languages.

noun

1. plural Shans or Shan a member of a Mongoloid people living in Myanmar, Thailand, and SW China
2. the language or group of dialects spoken by the Shan, belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family and closely related to Thai