[flan, flahn; for 1 also Sp. flahn; for 2 also Fr. flahn] 
[flanz, flahnz; for 2 also Fr. flahn] ; Spanish. fla⋅nes [flah-nes] for 1. | 1. | Spanish Cookery. a dessert of sweetened egg custard with a caramel topping. |
| 2. | an open, tartlike pastry, the shell of which is baked in a bottomless band of metal (flan ring) on a baking sheet, removed from the ring and filled with custard, cream, fruit, etc. |
| 3. | a piece of metal shaped ready to form a coin, but not yet stamped by the die. |
| 4. | the metal of which a coin is made, as distinct from its design. |
| crème car·a·mel (krěm' kār'ə-měl', krēm' kār'ə-məl) n. A custard that is baked in a caramel-lined mold and served chilled with the caramel side up. Also called flan. [French : crème, cream + caramel, caramel.] |
| flan (flān, flän, fläɴ) n.
[French, from Old French flaon, from Late Latin fladō, fladōn-, flat cake, of Germanic origin; see plat- in Indo-European roots.] |