Tan vs. Tar — What's the Difference?

To convert (an animal hide) into leather by subjecting it to a chemical process that stabilizes the proteins, making it less susceptible to decay.

Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat.Mineral products resembling tar can be produced from fossil hydrocarbons, such as petroleum.

To make (a person or a person's skin) darker by exposure to the sun.

A dark, thick flammable liquid distilled from wood or coal, consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons, resins, alcohols, and other compounds. It is used in road-making and for coating and preserving timber.

To make (a person or a person's skin) darker by exposure to artificial sunlight or by the application of certain chemicals, often in the form of sprays or lotions.

A sailor.

(Informal) To thrash; beat.

Cover (something) with tar

To become darker from exposure to the sun or artificial sunlight, or from the application of certain chemicals.

A dark, oily, viscous material, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons, produced by the destructive distillation of organic substances such as wood, coal, or peat.

A light or moderate yellowish brown to brownish orange.

See coal tar.

A suntan.

A solid residue of tobacco smoke containing byproducts of combustion.

An artificially created suntan.

A sailor.

Tanbark.

To coat with or as if with tar.

Tannin.

A black, oily, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.

A solution derived from tannin.

Coal tar.

See Tanka.

(uncountable) A solid residual byproduct of tobacco smoke.

Light or moderate yellowish-brown to brownish-orange.

A sailor, because of the traditional tarpaulin clothes.

Having a suntan or the appearance of a suntan.

(uncountable) Black tar, a form of heroin.

Used in or relating to tanning.

(computing) A program for archiving files, common on Unix systems.

A yellowish-brown colour.

(computing) A file produced by such a program.

A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.

A Persian long-necked, waisted string instrument, shared by many cultures and countries in the Middle East and the Caucasus.

The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.

A single-headed round frame drum originating in North Africa and the Middle East.

An Armenian drink made of yoghurt and water similar to airan and doogh

(transitive) To coat with tar.

Syn of picul, particularly in Cantonese contexts.

(transitive) To besmirch.

(dialectal) A twig or small switch.

To create a tar archive.

Yellowish-brown.

A sailor; a seaman.

Having dark skin as a result of exposure to the sun or an artificial process intended to mimic this effect.

A thick, black, viscous liquid obtained by the distillation of wood, coal, etc., and having a varied composition according to the temperature and material employed in obtaining it.

To change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun.

To smear with tar, or as with tar; as, to tar ropes; to tar cloth.

To change an animal hide into leather by soaking it in tannic acid. To work as a tanner.

Any of various dark heavy viscid substances obtained as a residue

To spank or beat.

A man who serves as a sailor

To kill by gun, to shoot.

Coat with tar;

The second cardinal number two, formerly used in Celtic areas, especially Cumbria and parts of Yorkshire, for counting sheep, and stitches in knitting.

See Picul.

The bark of the oak, and some other trees, bruised and broken by a mill, for tanning hides; - so called both before and after it has been used. Called also tan bark.

A yellowish-brown color, like that of tan.

A brown color imparted to the skin by exposure to the sun; as, hands covered with tan.

Of the color of tan; yellowish-brown.

To convert (the skin of an animal) into leather, as by usual process of steeping it in an infusion of oak or some other bark, whereby it is impregnated with tannin, or tannic acid (which exists in several species of bark), and is thus rendered firm, durable, and in some degree impervious to water.

To make brown; to imbrown, as by exposure to the rays of the sun; as, to tan the skin.

To thrash or beat; to flog; to switch; as, to tan a disobedient child's hide.

To get or become tanned.

A browning of the skin resulting from exposure to the rays of the sun

A light brown

Ratio of the opposite to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle

Treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather

Get a tan, from wind or sun

Of a light yellowish-brown color