wan expression

8.7

A pale, weak look on a person's face that shows illness or feeling tired

noun
/wɑn ɪkˈsprɛʃən/

: expresión pálida

His wan expression worried his friends, who urged him to see a doctor.

Examples

She had a wan expression after the long meeting.
She had a wan expression after being ill for several days.
The stress of work gave him a constantly wan expression throughout the week.
His wan expression made everyone worry about his health.
She had a wan expression after staying up all night with her sick child.
His wan expression suggested that he was feeling unwell and tired.
Despite his best efforts to smile, a wan expression betrayed his fatigue.

Antonyms

vibrant expression

5.3

A lively way to show feeling in art or performance

Surface Forms

wan expression singular

wan expressions plural

Morphology

wan + expression

The noun phrase 'wan expression' is directly built from the adjective 'wan' (pale/ill-looking) modifying 'expression' (a facial look), so the overall meaning is immediately predictable from the parts. This straightforward adjective + noun composition is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily understand the phrase.

Etymology

Wan expression may come from the old word wan, which meant very pale, so you can picture someone with a weak, pale face. That's why a wan expression means a face that looks 'sick' or 'exhausted'.