Translation guide
The English word 'tan' has several distinct meanings. This guide covers the most common ones: a suntan, the color tan, the mathematical tangent function, and the process of tanning leather. Each meaning has different Japanese expressions.
The brown color of skin from sun exposure.
The most common word for suntan or sunburn. Can refer to both a healthy tan and a burn, depending on context.
I got a tan at the beach in the summer.
If you don't put on sunscreen, you'll get a bad sunburn.
Literally 'wheat-colored skin', a common and positive way to describe a tanned complexion.
She has a beautiful tan.
Loanword from English 'suntan'. Used in fashion/beauty contexts, but less common than 日焼け.
The light brown color.
The trigonometric function tangent.
The process of treating animal hides to make leather.
日焼け (hiyake) covers both suntan and sunburn. Context or modifiers like ひどい (severe) clarify the meaning. For a clear 'sunburn', you can say 日焼けで赤くなった (turned red from sunburn).
I bought suntan oil.
壁を薄茶色に塗った。
I painted the wall tan.
Draw the graph of the tangent function.