pen

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Archived revision by 86.145.59.183 (talk) as of 18:53, 18 December 2019.
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See also: Appendix:Variations of "pen"

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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”) (in compounds), from Proto-Germanic *pennō, *pannijō (“pin, bolt, nail, tack”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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]

Noun

pen (plural pens)

  1. An enclosure (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.
Translations
(baseball) bullpen — see bullpen

Verb

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, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.
Translations

Etymology 2

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(deprecated template usage)

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.

Noun

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. (figurative) A writer, or his style.
    He has a sharp pen.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Fuller, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      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:
      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 terms
Translations
light pen — see light pen
wing — see wing

Verb

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

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain. Compare hen.

Noun

pen (plural pens)

  1. A female swan.
Translations

Etymology 4

Shortened form of penalty

Noun

pen (plural pens)

  1. (soccer, slang) penalty

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pen”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

Angloromani

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Romani phen, from Sanskrit भगिनी (bhaginī).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈpʰen], [ˈpen], [pʰɛn]

Noun

pen

  1. sister
    Synonyms: minnipen, rakla
    Sa see pal te pen?
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

References

  • “pen”, in Angloromani Dictionary‎[1], The Manchester Romani Project, 2004-2006

Danish

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɛnˀ/, [pʰɛnˀ]

Noun

pen c (singular definite pennen, plural indefinite penne)

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

Etymology 2

Adjective

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

  1. Obsolete spelling of pæn.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch penne. 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)

  1. pen (writing utensil)
  2. pin

Derived terms

Anagrams

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French pain (“bread”)

Noun

pen

  1. bread

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch pen, from Latin penna (“feather, pen”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈpɛn]
  • Hyphenation: pèn

Noun

pèn (first-person possessive penku, second-person possessive penmu, third-person possessive pennya)

  1. (nonstandard) Alternative form of pena.
  2. (medicine) pin, metal used to fasten or as a bearing.

Further reading

Japanese

Romanization

pen

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ペン

Mandarin

Romanization

pen

  1. Nonstandard spelling of pēn.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of pén.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of pěn.
  4. 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 (using Raguileo Alphabet)

  1. to see
    Synonym: petun

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman penne.

Noun

pen

  2. Alternative form of penne

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

pen

  2. A enclosed structure for securing animals.
Descendants
  • English: pen
  • Scots: pen
References

Mindiri

Noun

pen

  1. woman

Further reading

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Possibly from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French

Adjective

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

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

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Possibly from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French

Adjective

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

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

References

Rade

Etymology

Borrowed from French pince.

Noun

pen

  1. pincers

Tok Pisin

Etymology 1

From English paint.

Noun

pen

  1. paint

Etymology 2

From English pen.

Noun

pen

  1. pen

Etymology 3

From English pain.

Noun

pen

  1. pain
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.

Volapük

Noun

pen (nominative plural pens)

  1. pen

Declension

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 later, non-classical Volapük only

Welsh

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

pen m (plural pennau)

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

Adjective

pen (equative penned, comparative pennach, superlative pennaf)

  1. head
  2. chief
  3. supreme, principal

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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