# pencil

Pronunciation: say "PEN-suhl" /ˈpɛnsəl/

## Noun

1. A writing or drawing tool with a thin core of graphite or colored marking material, usually encased in wood or held in a mechanical holder.
   - Simple: A thin tool with a gray or colored center, in wood or plastic, that you use to write or draw.
   - _The artist tucked a pencil behind one ear while sketching the harbor._
   - _Students filled in the answer sheet with a number two pencil._

## Verb

2. To write, draw, or make marks on something with a pencil, or as if with one.
   - Simple: To write or draw with a pencil, or to make thin lines that look like they were drawn with one.
   - _Surveyors pencil faint guidelines before inking the final map._
   - _Moonlight penciled silver lines across the still water._

## Noun

3. A fine artist's brush, especially a small pointed one used for painting. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A small, thin brush that artists once used for painting fine details.
4. A slender, medicine-coated rod introduced into a body passage; a small medicated bougie. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A thin, medicine-coated rod that doctors once slid into the body to treat it.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A bundle of light rays, especially ones diverging from or converging to a single point.
- (noun) A family of geometric objects sharing a common property, such as all the lines passing through a single point.
- (noun) Short for power of the pencil: in a casino, a staff member's authority to give players free meals, rooms, and other perks.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pencil (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).