pen
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pɛn/
ipa: /pɪn/
homophone: pin (pin–pen merger)
rhymes: -ɛn
Forms: form: pens
Etymology: 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 feþer, feðer (Modern English feather); note the /p/ → /f/ Germanic sound change.
Doublet of panne, penna, and pinna. See feather and πέτομαι (pétomai) for more.
Senses: examples: text: He took notes with a pen.
text: Please use a pen, not a pencil, when filling out this form. Use black or blue ink only.
glosses: A tool, originally made from a feather but now usually a small tubular instrument, containing ink used to write or make marks.
examples: text: He has a sharp pen.
text: those learned pens
ref: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
glosses: A writer, or their style.
examples: text: He's unhappy because he got pen on his new shirt.
glosses: Marks of ink left by a pen.
glosses: A light pen.
examples: text: A pen is nothing more complex than a decalcified shell, so one mutation of the genes that controlled calcification could be all it took.
ref: 2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 117:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: The internal cartilage skeleton of a squid, shaped like a pen.
examples: text: 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 […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: A feather, especially one of the flight feathers of a bird, angel etc.
examples: text: but feather'd soon and fledge
They summed their pens, and soaring the air sublime
ref: 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; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: A wing.
examples: text: "I'm sure she had more than one EpiPen […]" "But she didn't have one when she got stung or she'd have used it." By all appearances, Mariah died in the woods, […] If she managed to grab the pen found under her leg from her bag or pocket, she never discharged it. But Crystal doesn't have these details. "Doesn't it make sense that she kept an extra pen in her cupboard, and one in her bag? The extra pen fell out, is all."
ref: 2023 August 29, Geri Krotow, A Wasp in the Woods, Tule Publishing, →ISBN:
glosses: A syringe-like device for injecting a dose of medication such as insulin or epinephrine. (See Injector pen.)
examples: text: a dab pen; a wax pen
glosses: Ellipsis of vapor pen (“electronic cigarette”).
Synonyms: word: biro
word: pen
Hypernyms: word: stationery
Hyponyms: word: ballpoint pen
word: cartridge pen
word: felt-tip pen
word: fountain pen
word: ruling pen
Derived terms: 3D pen
ball pen
ball-point pen
beard pen
border pen
bow pen
brush pen
bull pen
cartridge pen
conductive pen
dab pen
dip one's pen in someone's inkwell
dip pen
don't dip your pen in company ink
electric pen
EpiPen
epipen
eraser pen
feather pen
felt pen
felt-tipped pen
felt-tip pen
fountain pen
fude-pen
fude pen
gel pen
geometric pen
glass dip pen
glass pen
goose pen
goose-pen
ink pen
J pen
judge's pen
keelyvine pen
knight of the pen
laser pen
lettering pen
marker pen
marking pen
music pen
nib pen
pen and ink
pen-and-ink money
pen-and-paper
pen and paper
pen-and-wash
pen cancellation
pencase
pencentric
pencraft
pendom
pen drive
pen-driver
pen feather
penfish
penfold
penfriend
penful
pen gun
penholder
penjamin
penknife
penless
pen licence
penlight
penlike
penlite
penmaker
penmaking
penman
penmanship
pen-mate
pen name
pen painting
pen pal
pen pencil
penperson
pen picture
penpoint
pen portrait
pen-pusher
penrack
pen register
pen shell
penship
pen spinning
penster
penstroke
pentail
pen-tailed treeshrew
pentel
pentel pen
penthusiasm
penthusiast
pentop
pen torch
penwiper
penwoman
penwork
poison pen
poison-pen letter
put pen to paper
pyropen
quill pen
reed pen
ruling pen
sea pen
set pen to paper
shading pen
slip of the pen
smartpen
stylographic pen
tactical pen
technical pen
the pen is mightier than the sword
touch pen
vape pen
vapor pen
veto pen
you don't dip your pen in company ink
you don't dip your pen in the company inkwell
you don't dip your pen in the company's ink
you don't dip your pen in the inkwell
Related terms: word: prison