pennon

American  

[pen-uhn] / ˈpɛn ən /

noun

1. a distinctive flag in any of various forms, as tapering, triangular, or swallow-tailed, formerly one borne on the lance of a knight.

2. a pennant.

3. any flag or banner.

4. a wing or pinion.

---

pennon British  

/ ˈpɛnən /

noun

1. a long flag, often tapering and rounded, divided, or pointed at the end, originally a knight's personal flag

2. a small tapering or triangular flag borne on a ship or boat

3. a poetic word for wing

---

Other Word Forms

• pennoned
  adjective
• unpennoned
  adjective

---

Etymology

Origin of pennon

1325–75; Middle English penon < Middle French, augmentative of Old French pene < Latin penna or pinna feather. See pen ¹

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pennon

Sir Robert now stood before them, revealed not as a knight in glittering plate armor with pennon flying from his lance, but as what he had been all along: a grave, punctilious, honest lawyer.

From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2019

They brought with them a gift for the Belgian Society of Napoleonic Studies: a pennon of the Imperial Guard, carried from the battlefield 138 years ago.

From Time Magazine Archive

It had a tiny altar with four tapers, and a blue-and-white pennon with a device upon it.

From The Tower of Oblivion by Oliver [pseud.] Onions

It vanished for a few moments in the tunnel below Oberstein, and then, appearing once more, rolled smoothly onward, the smoke from the gaily-decorated locomotive floating backward like a pennon.

From The Alpine Fay A Romance by Elisabeth Buerstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)

"My dear Philip, you never congratulated me last night; pray do so now!" cried Lady Marabout, delightedly, wiping her pen on the pennon, which a small ormolu knight obligingly carried for that useful purpose.

From Cecil Castlemaine's Gage, Lady Marabout's Troubles, and Other Stories by Ouida

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---