pen

CEFRA1

/ˈpɛn/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    An instrument with ink used for writing.

  2. 02

    noun

    An enclosed area for keeping animals.

Examples

  • Do you have a pen on you?

  • pointing at the child with his pen.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A penitentiary, i.e. a state or federal prison for convicted felons.

  2. The bullpen.

  3. An enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.

More examples

In context

  • Have you got a pen?

  • There are two steers in the third pen.

  • They caught him with a stolen horse, and he wound up in the pen again.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She picked up a blue blank to write her grocery list.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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).