pen
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pɛn/
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Audio (US-Inland North): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛn
- Homophone: pin (pin-pen merger)
Etymology 1
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]
Noun
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 terms
Related terms
Translations
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Etymology 2
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”).
Verb
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 I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:
- Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 3
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.
Noun
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- A tool, originally made from a feather but now usually a small tubular instrument, containing ink used to write or make marks.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.
- (figurative) A writer, or their style.
- He has a sharp pen.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
- 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:
- 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 page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:
- but feather'd soon and fledge
They summed their pens, and soaring the air sublime
Derived terms
- 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
Translations
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Verb
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, via PC, →ISBN, →OCLC, 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.
Translations
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Etymology 4
Origin uncertain. Compare hen.
Noun
pen (plural pens)
- A female swan.
Synonyms
- swaness (rare)
Translations
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Etymology 5
Noun
pen (plural pens)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pen”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
Angloromani
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
pen
Derived terms
References
- “pen”, in Angloromani Dictionary[2], The Manchester Romani Project, 2004-2006, page 132
Cumbric
Etymology
From Proto-Brythonic *penn, from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom, of uncertain derivation.
Noun
pen
References
- Attested in Cumbric toponymic compounds and phrasal names (Pen-y-Ghent)
Danish
Etymology 1
From late Old Norse penni, from Latin penna (“feather”).
Pronunciation
Noun
pen c (singular definite pennen, plural indefinite penne)
Declension
Etymology 2
Adjective
pen (neuter pent, plural and definite singular attributive pene, comparative penere, superlative (predicative) penest, superlative (attributive) peneste)
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch penne, ultimately from Latin penna. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Pronunciation
Noun
pen f (plural pennen, diminutive pennetje n)
Derived terms
Descendants
- 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
Anagrams
Haitian Creole
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
pen
Indonesian
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Dutch pen, from Latin penna (“feather, pen”). Doublet of pena.
Noun
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 2
Verb
pen
Further reading
- “pen” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.
Japanese
Romanization
pen
Mandarin
Romanization
pen
- Nonstandard spelling of pēn.
- Nonstandard spelling of pén.
- Nonstandard spelling of pěn.
- Nonstandard spelling of pèn.
Usage notes
- Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
Mapudungun
Verb
pen (Raguileo spelling)
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Anglo-Norman penne.
Noun
pen
- Alternative form of penne
Etymology 2
From Old English penn, from Proto-Germanic *pennō, perhaps from the root of pinn (“peg, pin”).
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
pen
Related terms
Descendants
References
- “pen, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-24.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pen”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Mindiri
Noun
pen
Further reading
- Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
Possibly from French.
Adjective
pen (neuter singular pent, definite singular and plural pene, comparative penere, indefinite superlative penest, definite superlative peneste)
References
- “pen” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
Possibly from French.
Adjective
pen (neuter singular pent, definite singular and plural pene, comparative penare, indefinite superlative penast, definite superlative penaste)
References
- “pen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old Cornish
From Proto-Celtic *kʷennom.
Noun
pen
Rade
Etymology
Noun
pen
Romani
Pronoun
pen
- themselves (third-person plural reflexive pronoun)
See also
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 |
Number | Person | Gender | Nominative | Accusative (long and short forms) | Dative | Locative | Ablative | Instrumental | Possessive |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | First | — | me | man, ma | mánge | mánde | mándar | mánsa | múrro m, múrri f, múrre pl |
Second | — | tu | tut, tu | túke | túte | tútar | túsa | tíro m, tíri f, tíre pl | |
Reflexive third | — | — | pês, pe | pêske | pêste | pêstar | pêsa | pêsko m, pêski f, pêske pl | |
Third | Masculine | wo | lês, le | lêske | lêste | lêstar | lêsa | lêsko m, lêski f, lêske pl | |
Feminine | woi | la, la | láke | láte | látar | lása | láko m, láki f, láke pl | ||
Plural | First | — | ame | amên, ame | amênge | amênde | amêndar | amênsa | amáro m, amári f, amáre pl |
Second | — | tume | tumên, tume | tumênge | tumênde | tumêndar | tumênsa | tumáro m, tumári f, tumáre pl | |
Reflexive third | — | — | pên, pe | pênge | pênde | pêndar | pênsa | pêngo m, pêngi f, pênge pl | |
Third | — | won | lên, le | lênge | lênde | lêndar | lênsa | lêngo m, lêngi f, lênge pl |
Tok Pisin
Etymology 1
Noun
pen
Etymology 2
Noun
pen
Etymology 3
Noun
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.”
Volapük
Noun
pen (nominative plural pens)
Declension
Welsh
Etymology
From Middle Welsh and Old Welsh penn, from Proto-Brythonic *penn, from Proto-Celtic *kʷennom.
Pronunciation
Noun
pen m (plural pennau)
Related terms
Adjective
pen (feminine singular pen, plural pen, equative penned, comparative pennach, superlative pennaf)
Mutation
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. |
References
- 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
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