Joan UK /d͡ʒəʊn/US /d͡ʒoʊn/ noun2 •(informal, no longer used) A placeholder or conventional name for any woman, particularly a younger lower-class woman.Ber. O and I forsoth in loue, I that haue been loues whip?... Well, I will loue, write, sigh, pray, shue, grone, Some men must loue my Ladie, and some Ione. — 1598 •(no longer used) A kind of close-fitting cap for women popular in the mid-18th century.A grocer's wife attractd our eyes by a new-fashioned cap called a Joan. — 1756 formsJoans