Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗An enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle. · A penitentiary, i.e. a state or federal prison for convicted felons. · The bullpen.
From Middle English pen, penne (“enclosure for animals”), from Old English penn (“enclosure, fold, pen”), from Proto-Germanic *pennō, *pannijō (“pin, bolt, nail, tack”), from Proto-Indo-European *bend- (“pointed peg, nail, edge”). Related to pin. Sense “prison” originally figurative extension to “enclosure for persons” (1845), later influenced by penitentiary (“prison”), being analyzed as an abbreviation (1884).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"1": "en",
"2": "pen-enlosure-nailed-pinned"
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"expansion": "Middle English pen"
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{
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"t": "enclosure, fold, pen"
},
"expansion": "Old English penn (“enclosure, fold, pen”)"
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"2": "gem-pro",
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{
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}
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],
[
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],
[
"*pennō",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/pennō"
],
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"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/pannijō"
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],
[
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"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"An enclosure (enclosed area) used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle.",
"A penitentiary, i.e. a state or federal prison for convicted felons.",
"The bullpen."
],
"tags": [
"slang"
],
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