Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

penne

American  
[pen-ay] / ˈpɛn eɪ /

noun

  • penne
    plural
  1. a type of tubular pasta having diagonally cut ends.


penne British  
/ ˈpɛnɪ /

noun

  1. pasta in the form of short tubes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of penne

1970–75; < Italian, plural of penna pen, feather, quill


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Cajun chicken pasta is essentially Alfredo in a leather jacket: fettuccine or penne, blackened or “blackened” chicken, a confetti of peppers and scallions, and a liberal snowfall of Cajun seasoning.

From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2026

Tesco's high-protein penne pasta contains 8.8g of protein per 100g, while their normal penne contains 5.8g of protein for the same weight.

From BBC ● May 11, 2025

Fans were very upset when the local pizza chain stopped making its deeply satisfying combination of penne, pesto, artichoke hearts and peas, served lightly chilled — perfect for a hot-weather lunch or supper.

From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2023

Anthony Esposito, the owner of Via Sposito, an Italian restaurant in Old Bridge that serves spaghetti, linguine, penne, tortellini and gnocchi, said that he could only speculate about where the pasta might have come from.

From New York Times ● May 4, 2023

You have to understand, the worst penne pasta in Italy, the tubs of it they would give refugees, was still better than the Oklahoma City Olive Garden.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training