pencil

American  

[pen-suhl] / ˈpɛn səl /

noun

1. a slender tube of wood, metal, plastic, etc., containing a core or strip of graphite, a solid coloring material, or the like, used for writing or drawing.

2. a stick of cosmetic coloring material for use on the eyebrows, eyelids, etc.

3. anything shaped or used like a pencil, as a stick of medicated material.

   a styptic pencil.

4. a narrow set of lines, light rays, or the like, diverging from or converging to a point.

   a pencil of sunlight.

5. a slender, pointed piece of a substance used for marking.

6. style or skill in drawing or delineation.

   He favored the late products of the artist's pencil.

7. Mathematics. the collection of lines, planes, or surfaces passing through a given point or set of points and satisfying a given equation or condition.

8. Archaic. an artist's paintbrush, especially for fine work.

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verb (used with object)

penciled, penciling, pencilled, pencilling

1. to write, draw, mark, or color with, or as if with, a pencil.

2. to use a pencil on.

verb phrase

1. pencil in to schedule or list tentatively, as or as if by writing down in pencil rather than in ink.

   I'll pencil you in for ten o'clock.

pencil British  

/ ˈpɛnsəl /

noun

1. 1. a thin cylindrical instrument used for writing, drawing, etc, consisting of a rod of graphite or other marking substance, usually either encased in wood and sharpened or held in a mechanical metal device

   2. ( as modifier )

      a pencil drawing

2. something similar in shape or function

   a styptic pencil

   an eyebrow pencil

3. a narrow set of lines or rays, such as light rays, diverging from or converging to a point

4. archaic an artist's fine paintbrush

5. rare an artist's individual style or technique in drawing

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verb

1. to draw, colour, or write with a pencil

2. to mark with a pencil

3. to note, arrange, include, etc provisionally or tentatively

pencil Idioms  

1. see put lead in one's pencil.

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Other Word Forms

• penciler
  noun
• penciller
  noun
• pencillike
  adjective
• unpenciled
  adjective
• unpencilled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of pencil

1350–1400; Middle English pencel < Middle French pincel ≪ Latin pēnicillus painter's brush or pencil, diminutive of pēniculus little tail. See penis, -cule ¹

Explanation

If you want to write something you can easily erase, write it with a pencil (instead of with a pen). When you color in the bubbles on a standardized test, a #2 pencil is the way to go. Unlike pens, which use ink, pencils have a pointed cylinder of graphite that makes marks on paper. Most pencils are wood with a thin center of graphite, although mechanical pencils are made of metal or plastic and look more like pens. You might describe an artwork as a pencil drawing, or ask if you can pencil some notes in the margins of your friend's copy of "Moby Dick." When you "pencil something in," you mark it tentatively on your calendar, knowing you might have to erase it later if your plans change.

Example Sentences

Tim the Pencil doesn’t mean to manipulate you, but the hand holding him can.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026

Style: Pencil mustache, cowboy hat, Nashville-style leisure suit.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2024

Instead, Igounet decided to produce a comic book: “Black Pencil: Samuel Paty, the Story of a Teacher,” based on two years of reporting and made with the illustrator Guy Le Besnerais, was published in October.

From New York Times • Jan. 24, 2024

In his poem Pencil Me In, he wrote:

From BBC • Dec. 8, 2023

Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands.

From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• address
• compose
• create
• draft
• note
• pen
• print
• record
• rewrite
• scrawl
• scribble
• sign
• tell