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).
Meanings
An enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.
There are two steers in the third pen.
(slang) 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.
es chivitil (disused) (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · zh 圈 (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sh тор (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · nn inngjerding (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · es corral (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sq thark (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · bg коша́ра (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · el στάνη (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · it chiuso (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · fr enclos (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · cs výběh (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · zh 牢 (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · el μαντρί (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sw zizi (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sk výbeh (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · tet luhan (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sh obor (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · nn kve (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ar حَظِيرَة (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · is rétt (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · is tröð (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · mi rāihe (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ota ماندره (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · nb innhegning (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · mk тр́ло (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · wa eclôs (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · hu karám (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · pl wybieg (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · hu ketrec (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · gl curral (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · la hara (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ru коша́ра (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · grc σηκός (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · pt cercado (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · is stía (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · fi tarha (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ota آغل (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ar زَرِيبَة (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · grc μάνδρα (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · da indelukke (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · hit 𒀀𒊭𒀀𒌋𒅈 (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sv hage (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · de Pferch (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · km ទ្រុង (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · th คอก (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · da bås (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ga cró (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · km ឋានវតី (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · fa زاغد (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ga mainnear (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · eu eskorta (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · got 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌰 (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · lo ເລົ້າ (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ja ペン (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · it ovile (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · pt curral (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · mi pākaka (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · nl kraal (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · eo kralo (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · it recinto (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · be заго́н (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · nl ren (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · izh karsina (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · nn innhegning (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sh обор (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · zh 欄圈 /栏圈 (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · is kví (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · hy ոչխարանոց (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · mk ко́тар m/ко́тара (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · uk загі́н (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sh tor (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · nb kve (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ca corral (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · cs ohrada (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · de Zwinger (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ddg loho (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · da sti (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · nb inngjerding (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ru заго́н (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · da fold (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · ro țarc (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · sq vathë (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · th เล้า (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · fi karsina (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · el στρούγκα (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals) · zh 稠 (enclosure (enclosed area) for animals)
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”).
Meanings
(transitive) To enclose in a pen.
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve. 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, 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:
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.
Meanings
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.
Please use a pen, not a pencil, when filling out this form. Use black or blue ink only.
another novel from the pen of everybody's fave thriller writer.
(figuratively) A writer, or their style.
those learned pens 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
He has a sharp pen.
(colloquial) 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 pen is nothing more complex than a decalcified shell, so one mutation of the genes that controlled calcification could be all it took. 2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 117:
(archaic, dialectal, poetic) A feather, especially one of the flight feathers of a bird, angel etc.
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 […] 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
(poetic) A wing.
but feather'd soon and fledge
They summed their pens, and soaring the air sublime 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:
A syringe-like device for injecting a dose of medication such as insulin or epinephrine. (See Injector pen.)
"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." 2023 August 29, Geri Krotow, A Wasp in the Woods, Tule Publishing, →ISBN:
(abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of vapor pen (“electronic cigarette”).
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.
Meanings
(transitive) To write (an article, a book, etc.).
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. 2021 December 29, Conrad Landin, “Glasgow Subway: a city institution”, in RAIL, number 947, page 45:
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. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Nonuel:
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 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC:
(transitive, uncommon) To write or draw on (a surface) with a pen.
I penned up the walls with obscenities 1973 May 5, Lou Sullivan, Diary:
Beside it, another wooden table with a guestbook penned with names and addresses. 2014, L. K. Scott, Nightmare Eve: