pen.
An enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.
Meaning & usage
An enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.
There are two steers in the third pen.
A 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.
The bullpen.
Two righties are up in the pen.
Where this word comes from
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).
To enclose in a pen.
Where this word comes from
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”).
A tool, originally made from a feather but now usually a small tubular instrument, containing ink used to write or make marks.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.
another novel from the pen of everybody's fave thriller writer.
A writer, or their style.
He has a sharp pen.
Marks of ink left by a pen.
He's unhappy because he got pen on his new shirt.
A light pen.
The internal cartilage skeleton of a squid, shaped like a pen.
A feather, especially one of the flight feathers of a bird, angel etc.
A wing.
A syringe-like device for injecting a dose of medication such as insulin or epinephrine. (See Injector pen.)
Ellipsis of vapor pen (“electronic cigarette”).
a dab pen; a wax pen
Where this word comes from
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”, whence petition), root of *petra-, whence Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “wing”, whence pterodactyl), and also of Sanskrit पत्रम् (patram, “wing, feather”), Old Church Slavonic перо (pero, “pen”), Old Norse fjǫðr (“feather”), 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. Not related to pencil.
To write (an article, a book, etc.).
To write or draw on (a surface) with a pen.
Where this word comes from
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”, whence petition), root of *petra-, whence Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “wing”, whence pterodactyl), and also of Sanskrit पत्रम् (patram, “wing, feather”), Old Church Slavonic перо (pero, “pen”), Old Norse fjǫðr (“feather”), 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. Not related to pencil.
A female swan.
Where this word comes from
Origin uncertain. Compare hen.
Penalty.
England won 3-1 on pens.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of penalty.
Penetration.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of penetration.
plural of pan
Where this word comes from
By incorrect analogy with man → men.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.