pencil
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pencil
- /ˈpɛn(t)səl/
- /ˈpɛnsɪl/ UK, South Asia, also
Rhymes with -ɛnsəl
Where it comes from
From Anglo-Norman and Old French pincil (see the variant pincel, which gave rise to Modern French pinceau (“paintbrush”)), from Latin pēnicillum, diminutive of pēniculus (“brush”), itself a diminutive of pēnis (“tail; penis”). Not related to pen.
noun pencils · pensill
-
A writing utensil with a graphite (commonly referred to as lead) shaft, usually blended with clay, clad in wood, and sharpened to a taper.
Similar: lead pencil
- An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point. [T]hey all ran off into the night to the miser’s ruined castle, with its solitary pencil of light in its high turret chamber[.]
- A family of geometric objects with a common property, such as the set of lines that pass through a given point in a projective plane. When, by the pencil becoming oblique to the surface, the vergency produced on the pencil becomes changed, the primary and secondary focal points, V and H, separate […]
- A paintbrush. But living art may not least part expresse, / Nor life-resembling pencill it can paynt[…].
- A small medicated bougie.
- A small, thin tuft of hairs or feathers. It is almost entirely of a slatey colour, with yellow bill and feet, but the feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts each terminate in a rigid, glossy pencil or tuft of a vivid crimson.
- Ellipsis of power of the pencil And most important of all, Cully now had 'The Pencil', that most coveted of Las Vegas powers.
verb pencils · penciling · pencilling · penciled · pencilled
- To write (something) using a pencil. I penciled (BrE: pencilled) a brief reminder in my notebook.
- To mark with, or as if with, a pencil. It pencilled each flower with rich and variegated hues, and threw over its exuberant foliage a vesture of emerald green.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: marker, crayon, ink, stylus, eyeliner, mine, fountain, dictionary, pen, lead, sharpeners, charcoal pencil, lead pencil, mechanical pencil, propelling pencil, colored pencil
Translations
Every language
noun graphite writing-instrument
| Español | lápiz |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 연필 yeonpil |
| 日本語 | 鉛筆 enpitsu |
| 中文 | 鉛筆 /铅笔 qiānbǐ |
| हिन्दी | अंकनी aṅknī, पेंसिल pensil |
| Kiswahili | penseli |
| Português | lápis |
| Français | crayon |
| Deutsch | Bleistift, Buntstift |
| Italiano | matita, lapis |
| Ελληνικά | μολύβι molývi |
| Română | creion |
| Русский | каранда́ш karandáš |
| Tiếng Việt | bút chì, viết chì |
| العربية | قَلَم رَصَاص qalam raṣāṣ, قَلَم qalam |
| עברית | עִפָּרוֹן iparón |
noun slate writing-instrument
| Deutsch | Griffel, Tafelstift |
|---|---|
| Ελληνικά | κοντύλι kontýli |
| Română | condei |
Talk about this word "pencil." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pencil. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. pencil. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pencil "pencil." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pencil.Cite this
@misc{pencil_2026,
title = {pencil},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pencil},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
