pan

Pan is a term with several distinct meanings in different contexts.

In everyday use, a pan is a flat-bottomed cooking vessel with relatively low sides, designed for cooking on a stove or over heat. Pans come in various materials, including cast iron, stainless steel, aluminum, and nonstick coatings. Common types include frying pans, sauté pans, and saucepans, each suited to particular cooking techniques and heat distribution.

In Greek mythology, Pan is a rustic god of nature, shepherds, and flocks. He is often depicted with goat-like features, horns, and a preference for pastoral music, such as the pan flute. Pan’s figure appears in ancient myths and has contributed terms to modern language, including the word panic, which is associated with his tendency to inspire sudden fear or anxiety in crowds.

In astronomy, Pan is a small moon of Saturn. It orbits within the Encke Gap of Saturn’s A ring and was discovered in 1990 by Mark R. Showalter and colleagues. Pan is notable for its irregular, elongated shape, sometimes described as ravioli-like due to a prominent equatorial ridge. Its size is on the order of tens of kilometers across, making it a relatively minor moon compared with Saturn’s larger satellites.

As a prefix, pan- comes from the Greek pan meaning “all.” It appears in many words such as panorama, pandemic, and panacea, indicating a sense of wholeness or universality.