Meaning & use
pen knife
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small folding knife with a blade that fits into the handle, carried in a pocket.
Grammar: Countable: use a/an and a plural form — a pen knife, two pen knives.
Patterns
- carry a pen knife
- a pocket pen knife
He keeps a small pen knife in his jacket pocket for opening parcels.
She used a pen knife to sharpen the tip of her pencil.
The boy was given a pen knife on his tenth birthday.
nouncountableold-fashioned
A small knife with a blade that folds out of a handle shaped like a pen, once used for cutting quills.
Grammar: Countable and rather old-fashioned; today the word usually means any small folding pocket knife.
Patterns
- a quill pen knife
In the museum case lay an old pen knife once used for trimming quill pens.
Writers in the past kept a pen knife beside their inkwell.
Word forms
| plural | pen knives |
|---|
Common combinations
- a sharp pen knife
- Take a sharp pen knife if you need to cut the string.
- fold a pen knife
- He folded the pen knife and put it away.
- carry a pen knife
- It is illegal to carry a pen knife in some public places.
- open a pen knife
- She opened the pen knife carefully and cut the tape.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pocketknife
- A more general American term for any small folding knife carried in a pocket; a pen knife is one kind of pocketknife.
- jackknife
- A large folding knife, often used for outdoor work, and usually bigger and heavier than a pen knife.
- penknife
- The same word written as one word; this spelling is very common and equally correct.
Word family
- knife noun
- A cutting tool with a blade and handle; a pen knife is a small folding kind.
Commonly confused: pen knife or pen?
pen knife vs pen
A pen is a writing instrument with ink; a pen knife is a small folding knife, though the two words look similar.
Practice
Which sentence uses the plural form correctly?
Choose one answer.
The plural of pen knife is pen knives, changing f to v before -es, so 'three pen knives' is correct. 'Pen knifes' keeps the f, which is wrong, and the other options do not form a proper plural.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pen knife”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.