pencil

English Online Dictionary. What means pencil‎? What does pencil mean?

English

Alternative forms

• pensill (obsolete)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛnsəl/, /ˈpɛntsəl/
  • (Received Pronunciation, also) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛnsɪl/
• Rhymes: -ɛnsəl
• Hyphenation: pen‧cil

Noun

pencil (plural pencils)

1. (now chiefly historical) A paintbrush. [from 14th c.]
2. A writing utensil with a graphite (commonly referred to as lead) shaft, usually blended with clay, clad in wood, and sharpened to a taper. [from 16th c.]

   Synonym: lead pencil

3. (optics) An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point. [from 17th c.]
4. (geometry) 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. [from 19th c.]
5. (medicine, obsolete, rare) A small medicated bougie. [19th c.]
6. (gambling) Ellipsis of power of the pencil.

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

pencil (third-person singular simple present pencils, present participle (UK) pencilling or (US) penciling, simple past and past participle (UK) pencilled or (US) penciled)

1. (transitive) To write (something) using a pencil.
2. (transitive) To mark with, or as if with, a pencil.

Derived terms

• pencil in
• pencil out

Translations

Further reading

• pencil on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Malay

Adjective

pĕncil (Jawi spelling ڤنچيل)

1. to be isolated, separated

Derived terms

Further reading

• “pencil” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.