inkwell

American  

[ingk-wel] / ˈɪŋkˌwɛl /

noun

1. a small container for ink.

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inkwell British  

/ ˈɪŋkˌwɛl /

noun

1. a small container for pen ink, often let into the surface of a desk

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Etymology

Origin of inkwell

First recorded in 1870–75; ink + well ²

Explanation

An inkwell is a small container that's used to hold ink. In the old days, students would sit at their wooden desks and dip their quill pens into inkwells. In the time before refillable fountain pens — and long before ballpoint pens — anyone who wanted to write in ink needed an inkwell. Every few letters or words, a writer would have to dip their quill into ink. Portable inkwells allowed the ink to travel, and school desks had round indentations where inkwells were kept. These schoolroom inkwells were the first to have this name, because they were recessed like a well, or "dug hole."

Example Sentences

When modern archaeologists first chanced on a board of Fifty-eight Holes, they mistook it for an inkwell.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 26, 2019

An inkwell filled with black ink sat off to the side.

From Nature • Mar. 28, 2017

Hirschfeld sits, preparing for work, dipping his pen into the top of his head, which has become a handy inkwell.

From Washington Post • Aug. 5, 2015

The rhino-foot inkwell in Roosevelt’s third-floor study may or may not have gotten a pedicure, but the toenails shine.

From New York Times • Jul. 9, 2015

It was a new type of pen called a “fountain pen,” which could write line after line without having to be dipped into the inkwell.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood