pen
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- IPA(key): /pɛn/
- (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /pɪn/
en (file) Audio (US-Inland North) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛn
- Homophone: pin (pin-pen merger)
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English pen, penne (“enclosure for animals”), from Old English penn (“enclosure, fold, pen”), from Proto-Germanic *pennō, *pannijō (“pin, bolt, nail, tack”), from Proto-Indo-European *bend- (“pointed peg, nail, edge”). Related to 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)
- An enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.
- There are two steers in the third pen.
- (slang) Penitentiary, i.e. a state or federal prison for convicted felons.
- They caught him with a stolen horse, and he wound up in the pen again.
- (baseball) The bullpen.
- Two righties are up in the pen.
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English pennen, from Old English *pennian (“to close, lock, bolt”, attested in onpennian (“to open”)), derived from penn (see above). Akin to Low German pennen (“to secure a door with a bolt”).
VerbEdit
pen (third-person singular simple present pens, present participle penning, simple past and past participle penned or pent)
- (transitive) To enclose in a pen.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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Etymology 3Edit
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 Ancient Greek 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)
- A tool, originally made from a feather but now usually a small tubular instrument, containing ink used to write or make marks.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.
- (figuratively) A writer, or their style.
- He has a sharp pen.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, OCLC 913056315:
- those learned pens
- (colloquial) Marks of ink left by a pen.
- He's unhappy because he got pen on his new shirt.
- A light pen.
- (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.
- (now rare, poetic, dialectal) A feather, especially one of the flight feathers of a bird, angel etc.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
- 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 […]
- (poetic) A wing.
- 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- but feather'd soon and fledge
They summed their pens, and soaring the air sublime
Derived termsEdit
- ball pen
- ball-point pen
- border pen
- bull pen
- cartridge pen
- dip one's pen in someone's inkwell
- feather pen
- felt-tip pen
- fountain pen
- goose pen
- lettering pen
- pen and paper, pen-and-paper
- pen cancellation
- pen feather
- penfriend
- pen licence
- penmanship
- pen-mate
- pen name
- pen pal
- pen-pusher
- poison pen
- put pen to paper
- quill pen
- you don't dip your pen in company ink
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
pen (third-person singular simple present pens, present participle penning, simple past and past participle penned)
- (transitive) To write (an article, a book, etc.).
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Nonuel:
- Prying open the crate, you discover a carefully wrapped, handwritten copy of one of Matriarch Dilinaga's treatises. It is unlikely she penned it herself, but the flowing brushwork and intricate watercolor illustrations clearly show the hand of a master scribe.
- 2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC[1]:
- His two most recent films are last year's Greyhound, a Hanks-penned World War Two thriller in which he plays a naval commander, and now News of the World, a Western set in the years immediately following the close of the US Civil War, directed by Paul Greengrass, which is premiering around the world on Netflix tomorrow.
- 2021 December 29, Conrad Landin, “Glasgow Subway: a city institution”, in RAIL, number 947, page 45:
- It was in this era, too, that author and Scotland the Brave songwriter Cliff Hanley penned The Glasgow Underground, a tongue-in-cheek love letter to the Subway in song.
TranslationsEdit
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Etymology 4Edit
Origin uncertain. Compare hen.
NounEdit
pen (plural pens)
- A female swan.
SynonymsEdit
- swaness (rare)
TranslationsEdit
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Etymology 5Edit
NounEdit
pen (plural pens)
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “pen”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
AnagramsEdit
AngloromaniEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
pen
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “pen”, in Angloromani Dictionary, The Manchester Romani Project, 2004-2006, page 132
CumbricEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Proto-Brythonic *penn, from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom, of uncertain derivation.
NounEdit
pen
ReferencesEdit
- Attested in Cumbric toponymic compounds and phrasal names (Pen-y-Ghent)
DanishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From late Old Norse penni, from Latin penna (“feather”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
pen c (singular definite pennen, plural indefinite penne)
DeclensionEdit
Etymology 2Edit
AdjectiveEdit
pen (neuter pent, plural and definite singular attributive pene, comparative penere, superlative (predicative) penest, superlative (attributive) peneste)
- Obsolete spelling of pæn
DutchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle Dutch penne, ultimately from Latin penna. 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)
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- Afrikaans: pen
- Negerhollands: pen
- → Caribbean Hindustani: pen
- → Caribbean Javanese: pèn
- → Indonesian: pen
- → Papiamentu: pèn, pen, pènchi, pennetsje (from the diminutive)
- → Sranan Tongo: pen
- → Saramaccan: peni
AnagramsEdit
Haitian CreoleEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
pen
IndonesianEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Dutch pen, from Latin penna (“feather, pen”). Doublet of pena.
NounEdit
pèn (first-person possessive penku, second-person possessive penmu, third-person possessive pennya)
- (nonstandard) alternative form of pena (“pen”).
- (medicine) pin, metal used to fasten or as a bearing.
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
pen
Further readingEdit
- “pen” in Online Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language [Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Daring], Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.
JapaneseEdit
RomanizationEdit
pen
MandarinEdit
RomanizationEdit
pen
- Nonstandard spelling of pēn.
- Nonstandard spelling of pén.
- Nonstandard spelling of pěn.
- 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 (Raguileo spelling)
Middle EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Anglo-Norman penne.
NounEdit
pen
- Alternative form of penne
Etymology 2Edit
From Old English penn, from Proto-Germanic *pennō, perhaps from the root of pinn (“peg, pin”).
Alternative formsEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
pen
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “pen, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-24.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “pen”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
MindiriEdit
NounEdit
pen
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)
ReferencesEdit
- “pen” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian NynorskEdit
EtymologyEdit
Possibly from French.
AdjectiveEdit
pen (neuter singular pent, definite singular and plural pene, comparative penare, indefinite superlative penast, definite superlative penaste)
ReferencesEdit
- “pen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old CornishEdit
From Proto-Celtic *kʷennom.
NounEdit
pen
RadeEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
pen
RomaniEdit
PronounEdit
pen
- themselves (third-person plural reflexive pronoun)
See alsoEdit
Number | Person | Gender | Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Locative | Ablative | Instrumental | Possessive |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | First | — | me | man | manqe | manθe | manθar | mança | miro, -i, -e |
Second | — | tu | tut | tuqe | tuθe | tuθar | tuça | tiro, -i, -e | |
Reflexive third | — | — | pes | pesqe | pesθe | pesθar | peça | pesqero, -i, -e | |
Third | Masculine | ov | les | lesqe | lesθe | lesθar | leça | lesqero, -i, -e | |
Feminine | oj | la | laqe | laθe | laθar | laça | laqero, -i, -e | ||
Plural | First | — | amen | amenqe | amenθe | amenθar | amença | amaro, -i, -e | |
Second | — | tumen | tumenqe | tumenθe | tumenθar | tumença | tumaro, -i, -e | ||
Reflexive third | — | — | pen | penqe | penθe | penθar | pença | penqero, -i, -e | |
Third | — | on | len | lenqe | lenθe | lenθar | lença | lenqero, -i, -e |
Tok PisinEdit
Etymology 1Edit
NounEdit
pen
Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
pen
Etymology 3Edit
NounEdit
pen
- pain
- 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 3:16:
- Na God i tokim meri olsem, “Bai mi givim yu bikpela hevi long taim yu gat bel. Na bai yu gat bikpela pen long taim yu karim pikinini. Tasol bai yu gat bikpela laik yet long man bilong yu, na bai em i bosim yu.”
VolapükEdit
NounEdit
pen (nominative plural pens)
DeclensionEdit
WelshEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle Welsh and Old Welsh penn, from Proto-Brythonic *penn, from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
pen m (plural pennau)
Related termsEdit
AdjectiveEdit
pen (feminine singular pen, plural pen, equative penned, comparative pennach, superlative pennaf)
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
- R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “pen”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies