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jenny

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jenny¹

  • /ˈd͡ʒɛni/

Rhymes with -ɛni

Where it comes from

Partially from generic use of the female given name Jenny (cf. Jane) and partially from informal pronunciations of engine.

noun jennies · Jenny

  1. A device for spinning thread from fiber onto multiple spindles (also called spinning jenny).
  2. A female donkey.
  3. A female wren.
  4. A female cat. Of course all the stock went by road and the house cat—a jenny it was—was put into a basket and driven in the trap along with one or two particular things and the women.
  5. Australia A female crab.
  6. A catmill.
  7. In billiards and similar games, a powerful follow shot with plenty of topspin. Cream's potting had been extraordinary, extraordinary, I remember, said Goff. I never saw anything like it. We were watching breathless, as he set himself for a long thin jenny, with the black of all balls.

verb jennies · jennying · jennied · Jenny

  1. To wind finished lace onto cards ready for sale.

Jenny²

  • /ˈd͡ʒɛni/

Sounds like Genny · Rhymes with -ɛni

Where it comes from

From Jen + -y, historically as a hypocoristic form of Janet, Jane, etc. but now more often used as a diminutive of Jennifer. Rarely also a nickname of Genevieve (compare Genny, pronounced the same), Eugenia or Virginia (compare Ginny).

Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna in derivations from Jane etc.

In senses related to inanimate objects, partially derived from the generic senses of Jane and partially an informal pronunciation of engine.

proper noun Jennys · Jennies · Jenni · Jennie

  1. A female given name. Jenny kissed me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in; Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your list, put that in! Say I'm weary, say I'm sad, Say that health and wealth have missed me, Say I'm growing old, but add, Jenny kissed me.
  2. A surname. Mrs Wreford Brown died in 1946 and the house passed to Colonel and Mrs Jenny. […] From the Jennys it fell into the hands of developers and from them it passed to Colonel and Mrs Bryant and thence to us.

noun Jennies · Jenni · Jennie

  1. UK, informal A Wren (a member of the WRNS).
  2. slang A Curtiss JN-4 airplane.
  3. Alternative letter-case form of jenny

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: jennet, jenny ass, ass, genetic, gene, let, genie, janet, jeanne, jennie, jennifer, jenni, ginny, xue, gini, yani

Translations

Every language

name female given name

EspañolJuanita, Juani
한국어제니 Jeni
日本語ジェニー Jenī
中文珍妮 Zhēnnī
РусскийДже́нни Džénni
العربيةجِينِي jenī

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MLA

"jenny." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/jenny. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

jenny. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/jenny

Chicago

"jenny." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/jenny.

BibTeX
@misc{jenny_2026,
  title = {jenny},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/jenny},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}