## Meanings
1. To look through something quickly to find a particular piece of information.
2. To make a digital copy of a document or picture using a scanner.
3. To read a code or label with an electronic device.
4. To search an area carefully by moving your eyes or a beam across it.
5. A medical image of the inside of the body made by special equipment.

## Examples
- I scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi.
- Can you scan this photo and email it to me?
- The cashier scanned each item at the till.
- The guards scanned the dark horizon for any movement.
- The doctor studied the brain scan closely.

## Derived Forms
- b-scan
- backscan
- bioscan
- bootscan
- brainscan
- cardioscan
- con-scan
- descan
- downscan
- egoscan
- fluoroscan
- forescan

## Related Forms
- scanlate
- scanlation
- scanlator
- scanner
- scansion

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: scanne
- Root: *skend-

## Etymology
From late Middle English scanne (“to mark off verse to show metrical structure”), from earlier scanden, from Late Latin scandere (“to scan verse”), from Classical Latin scandō (“to climb, rise, mount”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan”).

## AI Etymology
Scan comes from late Middle English scanne (“to mark off verse to show metrical structure”), from earlier scanden, from Late Latin scandere (“to scan verse”), from Classical Latin scandō (“to climb, rise, mount”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan”). Modern senses include to look through something quickly to find a particular piece of information. and to make a digital copy of a document or picture using a scanner.. The wider word family includes derivatives such as b-scan, backscan, bioscan, bootscan, brainscan, and cardioscan and related forms such as scanlate, scanlation, scanlator, and scanner.

## Topics
- Technology & Computing

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