pen pal

P p

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [pen pal]
- /pɛn pæl/
- /pen pæl/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [pen pal]
- /pɛn pæl/

Definitions of pen pal words

noun pen pal a person with whom one keeps up an exchange of letters, usually someone so far away that a personal meeting is unlikely: My niece in Texas has a pen pal in France. 1
noun pen pal friend with whom one corresponds 1
countable noun pen pal A pen pal is someone you write friendly letters to and receive letters from, although the two of you may never have met. 0
noun pen pal a person with whom one regularly exchanges letters, often a person in another country whom one has not met 0
noun pen pal a person, esp. a stranger in another country, with whom one arranges a regular exchange of letters 0

See all 5 definitions of pen pal

Information block about the term

Origin of pen pal

First appearance:

before 1935

One of the 8% newest English words

An Americanism dating back to 1935-40

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Pen pal

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Pen pal

pen pal popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 50% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

pen pal usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for pen pal

noun pen pal

correspondent — A correspondent is a newspaper or television journalist, especially one who specializes in a particular type of news.
freelancer — freelance (def 1).
gazetteer — a geographical dictionary.
communicator — a person who communicates, especially one skilled at conveying information, ideas, or policy to the public.
epistler — A writer of an epistle.

All 6 Synonyms of pen pal