pencil
Pluralpencils
Verbpencils
Pluralpencils
Formspencils
- 1A writing or drawing tool with a thin core of graphite or colored marking material, usually encased in wood or held in a mechanical holder.
The artist tucked a pencil behind one ear while sketching the harbor.
Students filled in the answer sheet with a number two pencil.
UsageSay write in pencil or with a pencil.
Note
Nothing in this tool's core is lead. Its core is usually graphite blended with clay, yet that core is commonly called lead, and the whole tool a lead pencil. The misnomer is harmless in everyday speech. The name itself is older than the object: it was carried over from the painter's fine brush, another pointed instrument for drawing lines.
- 2To write, draw, or make marks on something with a pencil, or as if with one.
Surveyors pencil faint guidelines before inking the final map.
Moonlight penciled silver lines across the still water.
UsageBritish spelling doubles the l: pencilled, pencilling.
Note
The figurative half is where this verb comes alive: light or nature pencils a thing with fine lines or color. The Ark, and Odd Fellows' Western Magazine (1852) says something penciled each flower with rich and variegated hues. That describes color rather than line, an echo of the old painter's brush.
- 3A fine artist's brush, especially a small pointed one used for painting.
why is it not lawfull for every man to pourtray himself with his pen, as it was for him to doe it with a pensell?
1603, Michel de Montaigne, The EssayesHe 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.
1791, James Boswell, Life of JohnsonSimilarbrush, paintbrush
Note
The original sense, and the one the word's history explains: Latin pēnicillum, a "little brush," ultimately from pēnis, "tail." Despite appearances, it has nothing to do with pen. Florio's Montaigne of 1603 sets the two side by side, portraying oneself with a pen or with a pensell. Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791) still means a brush when Sir Joshua Reynolds is asked never to use his pencil on a Sunday. Older texts are easily misread without this in mind.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 9 facts
- The artist's-brush meaning is the original sense. en.wikipedia.org
- Pencil derives ultimately from Latin pēnicillum. en.wiktionary.org
- Pēnicillum means a little brush. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin derivation ultimately leads to pēnis, meaning tail. en.wiktionary.org
- Pencil and pen are etymologically unrelated. en.wiktionary.org
- John Florio's translation of Montaigne was first published in 1603. clarklibrary.ucla.edu
- Florio's Montaigne juxtaposes portraying oneself with a pen and with a pensell. en.wiktionary.org
- James Boswell's Life of Johnson first appeared in 1791. commons.wikimedia.org
- Boswell reports Johnson asking Sir Joshua Reynolds never to use his pencil on Sunday; pencil denotes his painting brush. gutenberg.org
Less common meanings
- 4A slender, medicine-coated rod introduced into a body passage; a small medicated bougie.
- 5A bundle of light rays, especially ones diverging from or converging to a single point.
- 6A family of geometric objects sharing a common property, such as all the lines passing through a single point.
- 7Short for power of the pencil: in a casino, a staff member's authority to give players free meals, rooms, and other perks.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Latin pēnis ("tail, penis") had the diminutive pēniculus ("brush"), which in turn had the diminutive pēnicillum. This gave Anglo-Norman and Old French pincil, whose variant pincel became Modern French pinceau ("paintbrush"). Pencil has no connection to pen.