pen

Etymology 1

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).

noun

1. An enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.
   There are two steers in the third pen.
2. (slang) 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.
3. (baseball) The bullpen.
   Two righties are up in the pen.

Etymology 2

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”).

verb

1. (transitive) To enclose in a pen.

Etymology 3

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 feðer (Modern English feather); note the /p/ → /f/ Germanic sound change. Doublet of panne, penna, and pinna. See feather and πέτομαι (pétomai) for more.

noun

1. A tool, originally made from a feather but now usually a small tubular instrument, containing ink used to write or make marks.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.
2. (figurative) A writer, or their style.
   He has a sharp pen.
3. (colloquial) Marks of ink left by a pen.
   He's unhappy because he got pen on his new shirt.
4. A light pen.
5. (zoology) 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, page 117
6. (now rare, poetic, dialectal) A feather, especially one of the flight feathers of a bird, angel etc.
7. (poetic) A wing.

verb

1. (transitive) To write (an article, a book, etc.).
   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, →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. February 9 2021, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC
   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. December 29 2021, Conrad Landin, “Glasgow Subway: a city institution”, in RAIL, number 947, page 45

Etymology 4

Origin uncertain. Compare hen.

noun

1. A female swan.

Etymology 5

Clipping of penalty.

noun

1. (soccer, slang) Penalty.

Etymology 6

By incorrect analogy with man → men.

noun

1. (humorous) plural of pan