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pencil . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
pencil , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
pencil in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
pencil you have here. The definition of the word
pencil will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
pencil , as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Selection of colored pencils.
Alternative forms
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/
Rhymes: -ɛnsəl
Hyphenation: pen‧cil
Noun
pencil (plural pencils )
( now chiefly historical ) A paintbrush .
1791 , James Boswell , Life of Johnson , Oxford, published 2008 , page 1390 :He requested three things of Sir Joshua Reynolds:—To forgive him thirty pounds which he had borrowed of him; to read the Bible; and never to use his pencil on a Sunday.
A writing utensil with a graphite (commonly referred to as lead ) shaft , usually blended with clay , clad in wood, and sharpened to a taper.
( optics ) An aggregate or collection of rays of light , especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
( 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.
1863 , The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal :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 [ …]
2012 , G. E. Martin, The Foundations of Geometry and the Non-Euclidean Plane , page 357 :Let l and m be two hyperparallel lines. All the transversals to l and m that form congruent corresponding angles with l and m lie in a pencil .
( medicine , obsolete , rare ) A small medicated bougie .
( gambling ) Ellipsis of power of the pencil .
1978 , Mario Puzo, Fools Die :And most important of all, Cully now had 'The Pencil' , that most coveted of Las Vegas powers.
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
graphite writing-instrument
Adyghe: къэлэм ( qɛlɛm )
Afrikaans: potlood (af)
Albanian: laps (sq) m , kalem (sq) m
Amharic: እርሳስ ( ʾərsas )
Arabic: قَلَم رَصَاص m ( qalam raṣāṣ ) , قَلَم (ar) m ( qalam )
Armenian: մատիտ (hy) ( matit )
Assamese: কাঠ-পেঞ্চিল ( kath-peñsil ) , পেঞ্চিল ( peñsil )
Asturian: llapiceru (ast) m , llápiz (ast) m
Avar: къалам ( qxʼalam )
Aymara: lapisa
Azerbaijani: karandaş (az) , qələm (az)
Bashkir: ҡәләм ( qələm )
Basque: arkatz , lapitz
Belarusian: ало́вак m ( alóvak ) , каранда́ш m ( karandáš )
Bengali: পেনসিল (bn) ( penśil ) , অঙ্কনী ( oṅkoni )
Bole: pensur
Bulgarian: мо́лив (bg) m ( móliv ) , моли́в (bg) m ( molív )
Burmese: ခဲတံ (my) ( hkai:tam )
Carpathian Rusyn: церуза f ( ceruza ) , клайбас m ( klajbas )
Catalan: llapis (ca) m
Central Dusun: pinsil
Central Melanau: pisil
Central Sierra Miwok: sykýˀ-ja-
Chechen: къолам ( qʼolam )
Cherokee: ᏗᎪᏪᎶᏗ ( digowelodi )
Chinese:
Cantonese: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 (yue) ( jyun4 bat1 )
Dungan: гәран ( gəran ) , гэран ( geran ) , галан ( galan )
Eastern Min: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( iòng-bék )
Gan: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( nyyon4 'bit6 )
Hakka: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( yèn-pit )
Hokkien: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 (zh-min-nan) ( iân-pit )
Jin: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( qie1 bieh4 )
Mandarin: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 (zh) ( qiānbǐ )
Northern Min: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( uîng-bĭ ) , 洋筆 / 洋笔 ( iô̤ng-bĭ )
Taishanese: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( yon3 bit2 )
Teochew: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( ing5 big4 )
Wu: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( 1 khe-piq)
Xiang: 鉛筆 / 铅笔 ( yenn2 bi6 )
Chuvash: кӑранташ ( kărant̬aš )
Cornish: pluven-blomm f
Crimean Tatar: qarandaş
Czech: tužka (cs) f , olůvko n ( historical )
Danish: blyant (da) c
Dhivehi: ފަންސުރު (dv) ( fan̊suru )
Dutch: potlood (nl) n
Esperanto: krajono (eo)
Estonian: pliiats (et)
Faroese: blýantur (fo) m
Finnish: lyijykynä (fi) , kynä (fi)
French: crayon (fr) m
Galician: lapis (gl) m
Georgian: ფანქარი ( pankari )
German: ( non-colored ) Bleistift (de) m , ( colored ) Buntstift (de) m
Greek: μολύβι (el) n ( molývi )
Greenlandic: aqerluusaq
Guaraní: haiha (gn)
Gujarati: સીસાપેન ( sīsāpen )
Haitian Creole: kreyon
Hausa: fensir (ha)
Hebrew: עיפרון \ עִפָּרוֹן (he) m ( iparón )
Hindi: अंकनी f ( aṅknī ) , पेंसिल (hi) f ( pensil )
Hungarian: ceruza (hu)
Hunsrik: Bleistift m , Lappis m
Icelandic: blýantur (is) m
Ido: krayono (io)
Indonesian: pensil (id) , potlot (id)
Interlingua: stilo , stilo de graphite
Inuktitut: ᐊᓪᓛᑦ ( allaat )
Irish: peann luaidhe m
Italian: matita (it) f , lapis (it) m , portamina (it) m
Japanese: 鉛筆 (ja) ( えんぴつ, enpitsu )
Javanese: potlot
Kabardian: къэрэндащ (kbd) ( qɛrɛndaś )
Kalmyk: харанда ( xaranda )
Kannada: ಪೆನ್ಸಿಲ್ ( pensil )
Karelian: kynä
Kashubian: òłówk m
Kazakh: қалам (kk) ( qalam ) , қарындаш ( qaryndaş )
Khmer: ខ្មៅដៃ ( khmaw day )
Korean: 연필(鉛筆) (ko) ( yeonpil )
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: پێنووس (ckb) ( pênûs )
Northern Kurdish: qelemrisas (ku)
Kyrgyz: калем (ky) ( kalem ) , карандаш (ky) ( karandaş )
Lao: ສໍ (lo) ( sǭ ) , ສໍດຳ ( sǭ dam )
Latin: praeductal n , graphis f , ( New ) plumbum (la) n
Latvian: zīmulis (lv) m
Limburgish: blieèrsstek m
Lithuanian: pieštukas (lt) m
Livonian: bleifēdõr
Lü: ᦔᦲᧉᦎᦱᧃᧈ ( ṗii²ṫaan¹ )
Luganda: ekalamu
Luxembourgish: Bläistëft (lb) n , Kräijong n
Macedonian: молив m ( moliv )
Malagasy: pensily (mg)
Malay: pensel (ms)
Jawi: ڤينسيل
Malayalam: പെൻസിൽ (ml) ( peṉsil )
Maltese: lapes m
Manx: penn leoaie m , pensyl m
Maori: pene rākau
Marathi: पेन्सिल ( pensil )
Marshallese: pinjeļ
Mirandese: lhápeç m
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: харандаа (mn) ( xarandaa )
Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠷᠠᠨᠳᠠ ( qaranda )
Navajo: beeʼakʼeʼelchíhí
Nepali: सिसाकलम ( sisākalam )
Norman: crèyon m
Northern Sami: liánta
Norwegian:
Bokmål: blyant (no) m
Nynorsk: blyant m
Occitan: gredon (oc) m
Odia: ପେନ୍ସିଲ୍ (or) ( pensil )
Oromo: qubeessaa
Ossetian: кърандас ( k’randas )
Ottoman Turkish: قلم ( kalem ) , خامه ( hame )
Pashto: پنسل m ( pensel )
Persian:
Dari: پِنْسِل ( pinsil )
Iranian Persian: مِداد (fa) ( medâd )
Polish: ołówek (pl) m inan
Portuguese: lápis (pt) m
Punjabi: ਪੈਨਸਿਲ ( painsil )
Romani:
Kalo Finnish Romani: blyijako ranniboskero
Romanian: creion (ro) n
Russian: каранда́ш (ru) m ( karandáš )
Samoan: penitala
Scots: pincil
Scottish Gaelic: peansail m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: о̀ло̄вка f , пи́са̄љка f
Roman: òlōvka (sh) f , písāljka (sh) f
Sicilian: lapis m
Silesian: blajsztyft m
Sinhalese: පැන්සල (si) ( pænsala )
Slovak: ceruza f , ceruzka f
Slovene: svinčnik (sl) m
Somali: qalin qori
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: wołojnik m
Upper Sorbian: wołojnik m
Spanish: lápiz (es) m
Sundanese: potlot
Swahili: penseli class n
Swedish: blyertspenna (sv) c , penna (sv) c
Sylheti: ꠇꠣꠉ꠆ꠎꠤ ( xagzi )
Tagalog: lapis (tl) , pensil
Tajik: қалам (tg) ( qalam ) , мидод (tg) ( midod )
Tamil: எழுதுகோல் (ta) ( eḻutukōl )
Tatar: каләм (tt) ( qaläm )
Telugu: పెన్సిలు (te) ( pensilu )
Tetum: lapis
Thai: ดินสอ (th) ( din-sɔ̌ɔ )
Tibetan: ཞ་སྨྱུག ( zha smyug )
Tigrinya: ርሳስ ( rəsas )
Turkish: kurşun kalem (tr) , kalem (tr)
Turkmen: galam
Ukrainian: оліве́ць (uk) m ( olivécʹ )
Urdu: پینْسِل f ( pensil ) , پِنْسِل f ( pinsil )
Uyghur: قېرىنداش (ug) ( qërindash )
Uzbek: qalam (uz) , karandash
Vietnamese: bút chì (vi) , viết chì (vi)
Vilamovian: błajśtift n
Volapük: stib (vo)
Welsh: pensil (cy) m
West Frisian: potlead (fy) n
Xhosa: ípénsile class c9
Yakut: харандаас ( qarandaas )
Yiddish: בלײַער m ( blayer ) , בלײַשטיפֿט m ( blayshtift )
Yoruba: pẹ́ńsù
Yup'ik: kalantaassaaq
Zazaki: qelem f
Zhuang: yienzbit , yenzbiz
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 )
( transitive ) To write (something) using a pencil .
I penciled (BrE: pencilled ) a brief reminder in my notebook.
1888 , Thomas Hardy , “An Imaginative Woman”, in Wessex Tales :She had hardly got back when she encountered a piece by Robert Trewe in the new number of her favourite magazine, which must have been written almost immediately before her visit to Solentsea, for it contained the very couplet she had seen pencilled on the wallpaper by the bed, and Mrs. Hooper had declared to be recent.
( transitive ) To mark with, or as if with, a pencil .
1852 , The Ark, and Odd Fellows' Western Magazine :It pencilled each flower with rich and variegated hues, and threw over its exuberant foliage a vesture of emerald green.
Derived terms
Translations
Further reading
Malay
Adjective
pĕncil (Jawi spelling ڤنچيل )
to be isolated , separated
Derived terms
Affixed terms and other derivations
Regular affixed derivations:
Further reading