pen

pen — noun

1. a tool with ink inside that you use to write or draw.

1.nounA1
Definition

a tool with ink inside that you use to write or draw.

Example

Maya signed the birthday card with a blue pen after lunch.

sign with a pen

The nurse kept three pens in her coat pocket all day.

Common collocations
  • blue pen
  • sign with a pen
  • ink pen
  • pen and paper
Synonyms
  • ballpoint pen

    the most common modern type with a tiny rolling ball

  • fountain pen

    a more formal type with liquid ink and a metal nib

Antonyms
  • pencil

    writes with graphite and can usually be erased

Grammar Patterns

write with a pen

in pen

Usage Note

Often used after with or in. Unlike a pencil, a pen usually leaves a mark that cannot be rubbed out.

Common Mistakes

Please sign the form by pencil.
Please sign the form with a pen.
English uses 'with a pen', and pens are standard for signatures.

2. a fenced area used to hold pigs, sheep, or other farm animals.

2.nounB1
Definition

a fenced area used to hold pigs, sheep, or other farm animals.

Example

The farmer moved the pigs into a clean pen before sunset.

animals in a pen

Liam forgot the gate, and two goats slipped out of the pen.

Common collocations
  • pig pen
  • sheep pen
  • pen gate
  • empty pen
Synonyms
  • enclosure

    a general word for any closed area, not only for animals

  • paddock

    usually a larger fenced field, often for horses

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

animals in a pen

pen gate

Usage Note

Usually names a simple fenced area for pigs, sheep, or goats. Distinguish from stable, which is a building for horses.

Common Mistakes

The horse slept in a pen all winter.
The horse slept in a stable all winter.
a pen is usually a simple fenced area, not a horse building.

3. in slang, a prison where serious criminals are kept.

3.nounC1
Definition

in slang, a prison where serious criminals are kept.

Example

Rico spent six years in the pen after the robbery.

slang: in the pen

After three years in the pen, Darnell came home quietly.

Common collocations
  • in the pen
  • leave the pen
  • back to the pen
  • state pen
Synonyms
  • prison

    the neutral everyday word

  • penitentiary

    a more formal full form, especially in American English

Antonyms
  • freedom

    the state of not being kept in prison

Grammar Patterns

in the pen

go back to the pen

Usage Note

Mostly heard in American slang, especially after in, out of, or back to. In legal or news writing, prison or penitentiary is safer.

Common Mistakes

The official court report said he went to the pen.
The official court report said he went to prison.
pen is slang and sounds too informal in formal reports.

4. in baseball, the place where relief pitchers wait and warm up.

4.nounC1
Definition

in baseball, the place where relief pitchers wait and warm up.

Example

The manager called to the pen in the seventh inning.

baseball: call to the pen

After the home run, one relief pitcher started warming up in the pen.

warm up in the pen

Common collocations
  • go to the pen
  • warm up in the pen
  • deep pen
  • call to the pen
Synonyms
  • bullpen

    the full standard term in baseball

  • relief corps

    the group of relief pitchers rather than the place itself

Grammar Patterns

in the pen

go to the pen

Usage Note

Common in baseball talk. Depending on context, it can mean the fenced warm-up area or the relief pitchers there.

5. the female bird in a pair of swans.

5.nounC2
Definition

the female bird in a pair of swans.

Example

The pen guarded her nest while the cob swam nearby.

pen and cob as a swan pair

At dawn, the pen led four young swans across the lake.

Common collocations
  • pen and cob
  • nesting pen
  • injured pen
Synonyms
  • female swan

    a plain explanatory term used when the technical word is unknown

  • swan

    used when the sex of the bird does not matter

Grammar Patterns

the pen and the cob

Usage Note

Used mainly in birdwatching or breeding talk. The male is a cob, and the young are cygnets.

6. in football, an informal word for a shot taken from the penalty spot.

6.nounB2
Definition

in football, an informal word for a shot taken from the penalty spot.

Example

The striker won a pen after the defender pulled his shirt.

football: win a pen

Fans screamed for a pen when the ball hit Marco's arm.

Common collocations
  • win a pen
  • give a pen
  • bury the pen
  • miss a pen
Synonyms
  • penalty

    the usual short form in general football writing

  • spot kick

    a common British football term for a penalty kick

Grammar Patterns

win a pen

give a pen

Usage Note

Common in British football speech and live commentary. Distinguish from the full form penalty or penalty kick in more neutral writing.

Common Mistakes

The referee gave a pen to the defender for the foul.
The referee gave a pen to the attacking team for the foul.
the team that is fouled gets the penalty.
Idioms

the pen is mightier than the sword

idiom

writing and ideas can change people and events more than violence can.

The editor believed the pen is mightier than the sword during the protests.

Her speech about free newspapers proved the pen is mightier than the sword.

put pen to paper

idiom

to begin writing something, especially after thinking about it for some time.

After weeks of planning, Jin finally put pen to paper on Sunday.

The lawyer asked both sides to put pen to paper before noon.

a slip of the pen/tongue

idiom

a small mistake made by writing or saying the wrong word.

Calling Anna manager was a slip of the tongue in the meeting.

The wrong date in my email was just a slip of the pen.

pen — verb

pen — abbreviation

Word family

  • penman
    nounC2
  • penmanship
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Pen is the general everyday word for an ink-writing tool. A pencil uses graphite, so you can usually erase it, which makes it better for notes, maths, or light sketching. A marker also uses ink, but it has a much thicker tip and is used for bold writing on boxes, posters, or whiteboards. A fountain pen is a more formal type of pen with liquid ink and a metal nib, often linked with careful handwriting or signatures. A crayon is wax-based and is mainly for children's colouring, not normal writing. In short, sign a card with a pen, sketch lightly with a pencil, label a box with a marker, and colour a sun with a crayon.

pen ↗pencil ↗marker ↗fountain pencrayon

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchOld EnglishModern English

Modern English pen brings together several different histories. The writing-tool sense grew from a word meaning 'feather', because early pens were made from bird quills; that branch came into English through French from Latin penna. The enclosure sense is older in English and goes back to an Old English word for a fenced space. Some later meanings are short forms made from longer words: the prison sense comes from penitentiary, the baseball sense from bullpen, and the football sense from penalty. So one modern spelling now covers meanings that did not all begin as the same word.