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.

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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

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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

"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

An attendant handed him his lance, 128 with its glittering pennon.

From The Joyous Story of Toto by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

Aunt Mollie’s pink feather streamed into the breeze like a pennon of triumph.

From Short Stories of the New America Interpreting the America of this age to high school boys and girls by Various