Open main menu
Wiktionary

pen

See also: Appendix:Variations of "pen"

Contents

EnglishEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English pen, penne (“enclosure for animals”), from Old English penn (“enclosure, fold, pen”) (in compounds), from Proto-Germanic *pennō, *pannijō (“pin, bolt, nail, tack”), from Proto-Indo-European *bend- (“pointed peg, nail, edge”). Akin to Old English pennian (“to close, lock, bolt”) (in compounds onpennian (“to open”)), Low German pennen (“to secure a door with a bolt”), Old English pinn (“peg, bolt”). More at pin.

Sense “prison” originally figurative extension to “enclosure for persons” (1845), later influenced by penitentiary (“prison”), being analyzed as an abbreviation (1884).[1]

NounEdit

pen (plural pens)

  1. An enclosed area used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.
    There are two steers in the third pen.
  2. (slang) A prison cell.
    They caught him with a stolen horse, and he wound up in the pen again.
  3. (baseball) The bullpen.
    Two righties are up in the pen.
TranslationsEdit
(baseball) bullpen — see bullpen

VerbEdit

pen (third-person singular simple present pens, present participle penning, simple past and past participle penned or pent)

  1. (transitive) To enclose in a pen.
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
      Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

 
A ballpoint pen, showing assembly.

From Middle English penne, from Anglo-Norman penne, from Old French penne, from Latin penna (“feather”), from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥ ~ pth₂én- (“feather, wing”), from *peth₂- (“to rush, fly”) (from which petition). Proto-Indo-European base also root of *petra-, from which πτερόν (pterón, “wing”) (whence pterodactyl), Sanskrit पत्रम् (patram, “wing, feather”), Old Church Slavonic перо (pero, “pen”), Old Norse fjǫðr, Old English feðer (Modern English feather);[1] note the /p/ → /f/ Germanic sound change.

See feather and πέτομαι (pétomai) for more.

NounEdit

pen (plural pens)

  1. A tool, originally made from a feather but now usually a small tubular instrument, containing ink used to write or make marks.
    He took notes with a pen.
  2. (figuratively) A writer, or his style.
    He has a sharp pen.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Fuller
      those learned pens
  3. (colloquial) Marks of ink left by a pen.
    He's unhappy because he got pen on his new shirt.
  4. A light pen.
  5. (zoology) The internal cartilage skeleton of a squid, shaped like a pen.
    • 2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 117:
      A pen is nothing more complex than a decalcified shell, so one mutation of the genes that controlled calcification could be all it took.
  6. (now rare, poetic, dialectal) A feather, especially one of the flight feathers of a bird, angel etc.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.xi:
      And eke the pennes, that did his pineons bynd, / Were like mayne-yards, with flying canuas lynd, / With which whenas him list the ayre to beat […]
  7. (poetic) A wing.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
light pen — see light pen
wing — see wing

VerbEdit

pen (third-person singular simple present pens, present participle penning, simple past and past participle penned)

  1. (transitive) To write (an article, a book, etc.).
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Origin uncertain. Compare hen.

NounEdit

pen (plural pens)

  1. A female swan.
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 4Edit

Shortened form of penalty

NounEdit

pen (plural pens)

  1. (soccer, slang) penalty

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “pen” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

AnagramsEdit

DanishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From late Old Norse penni, from Latin penna (“feather”).

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /pɛnˀ/, [pʰɛnˀ]

NounEdit

pen c (singular definite pennen, plural indefinite penne)

  1. pen
  2. quill
  3. pane, peen
DeclensionEdit
Declension of pen
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative pen pennen penne pennene
genitive pens pennens pennes pennenes

Etymology 2Edit

AdjectiveEdit

pen (neuter pent, plural and definite singular attributive pene, comparative penere, superlative (predicative) penest, superlative (attributive) peneste)

  1. Obsolete spelling of pæn

DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle Dutch penne. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

pen f (plural pennen, diminutive pennetje n)

  1. a pen (writing utensil)
  2. a pin

Derived termsEdit

AnagramsEdit

Haitian CreoleEdit

EtymologyEdit

From French pain (“bread”)

NounEdit

pen

  1. bread

JapaneseEdit

RomanizationEdit

pen

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ペン

MandarinEdit

RomanizationEdit

pen

  1. Nonstandard spelling of pēn.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of pén.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of pěn.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of pèn.

Usage notesEdit

  • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

MapudungunEdit

VerbEdit

pen (using Raguileo Alphabet)

  1. to see

SynonymsEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Anglo-Norman penne.

NounEdit

pen

  2. Alternative form of penne

Etymology 2Edit

From Old English penn, from Proto-Germanic *pennō.

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

pen

  2. A enclosed structure for securing animals.
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit

MindiriEdit

NounEdit

pen

  1. woman

Further readingEdit

  • Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)

Norwegian BokmålEdit

EtymologyEdit

Possibly from French

AdjectiveEdit

pen (neuter singular pent, definite singular and plural pene, comparative penere, indefinite superlative penest, definite superlative peneste)

  1. nice
  2. neat
  3. beautiful, pretty
  4. handsome, good-looking
    pent vær - nice weather

ReferencesEdit

Norwegian NynorskEdit

EtymologyEdit

Possibly from French

AdjectiveEdit

pen (neuter singular pent, definite singular and plural pene, comparative penare, indefinite superlative penast, definite superlative penaste)

  1. nice
  2. neat
  3. beautiful, pretty
  4. handsome, good-looking
    pent vêr - nice weather

ReferencesEdit

RadeEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from French pince.

NounEdit

pen

  1. pincers

Tok PisinEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From English paint.

NounEdit

pen

  1. paint

Etymology 2Edit

From English pen.

NounEdit

pen

  1. pen

Etymology 3Edit

From English pain.

NounEdit

pen

  1. pain
    • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, 3:16:
      (please add an English translation of this quote)
This entry has fewer than three known examples of actual usage, the minimum considered necessary for clear attestation, and may not be reliable. Tok Pisin is subject to a special exemption for languages with limited documentation. If you speak it, please consider editing this entry or adding citations. See also Help and the Community Portal.

VolapükEdit

NounEdit

pen (plural pens)

  1. pen

DeclensionEdit

declension of pen
singular plural
nominative pen pens
genitive pena penas
dative pene penes
accusative peni penis
vocative 1 o pen! o pens!
predicative 2 penu penus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in some later, non-classical Volapük only

WelshEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle Welsh penn, from Proto-Brythonic *penn, from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

pen m (plural pennau)

  1. head
  2. chief
  3. top, apex
  4. end, extremity

Related termsEdit

AdjectiveEdit

pen (equative penned, comparative pennach, superlative pennaf)

  1. head
  2. chief
  3. supreme, principal

MutationEdit

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
pen ben mhen phen
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

ReferencesEdit

  • Angharad Fychan and Ann Parry Owen, editors (2014), “pen”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=pen&oldid=53223048"