penknife
noun
pen·knife ˈpen-ˌnīf 
plural penknives
: a small pocketknife usually with only one blade
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web When the Eagles won the tournament, each boy received a medal and a penknife. 
Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 27 Dec. 2021 With my penknife’s big blade – There was a little one for cutting tobacco. Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 25 Dec. 2020 Lovers, spouses, and rival siblings fling each other off cliffs into the sea or run one another through with penknives. Lidija Haas, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2020 In one instance he was charged with stabbing a fellow gambler in the abdomen with a penknife. Brian Seibert, New York Times, 18 Dec. 2019 In this sense a penknife is no different from some very complicated factory machine. Vladimir Nabokov, The New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2019 The boys were getting ready to board a bus to a game when two small penknives and a lighter were found in their gear. Talia Richman, baltimoresun.com, 2 May 2018 The tree was felled 400 or 500 years ago, but scraping away the surface with his penknife, Wohlleben found something astonishing: the stump was still green with chlorophyll. Diàna Markosian, Smithsonian, 22 Feb. 2018 Murray gave his approval, and Phipps began the painstaking process of excavating, starting with a brush and a penknife. Mike Sager, Smithsonian, 29 July 2017 See More
Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 27 Dec. 2021 With my penknife’s big blade – There was a little one for cutting tobacco. Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 25 Dec. 2020 Lovers, spouses, and rival siblings fling each other off cliffs into the sea or run one another through with penknives. Lidija Haas, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2020 In one instance he was charged with stabbing a fellow gambler in the abdomen with a penknife. Brian Seibert, New York Times, 18 Dec. 2019 In this sense a penknife is no different from some very complicated factory machine. Vladimir Nabokov, The New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2019 The boys were getting ready to board a bus to a game when two small penknives and a lighter were found in their gear. Talia Richman, baltimoresun.com, 2 May 2018 The tree was felled 400 or 500 years ago, but scraping away the surface with his penknife, Wohlleben found something astonishing: the stump was still green with chlorophyll. Diàna Markosian, Smithsonian, 22 Feb. 2018 Murray gave his approval, and Phipps began the painstaking process of excavating, starting with a brush and a penknife. Mike Sager, Smithsonian, 29 July 2017 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English; from its original use for mending quill pens
First Known Use
1922, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
penknife
noun
pen·knife ˈpen-ˌnīf
plural penknives
-ˌnīvz
: a small jackknife