Pen Meaning
/ˈpɛn/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.
nounA penitentiary, i.e. a state or federal prison for convicted felons.
Sentence Examples
Do you have a pen on you?
Have you got a pen?
pointing at the child with his pen.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She picked up a blue ____ to write her grocery list.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She picked up her ____ and began writing the letter she had been putting off for weeks.
Word Origin & History
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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"those learned pens"
— 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
"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:
"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:
"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:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She picked up a blue ____ to write her grocery list.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She picked up her ____ and began writing the letter she had been putting off for weeks.