Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎓 A US university 🧑‍🌾 A colony founder
Penn

Penn

45 6.0
An English Quaker who founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681
  • proper noun
  • /pɛn/
translation icon : William Penn
  • William Penn had left his followers with stern but also openly commercial instructions:
  • William Penn
  • Penn and the Indians

Examples

  • Thus, also, William Penn called the capital city in his new colony "the love of brothers," Philadelphia.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Without freedom, Penn often said, there can be no friendship.

    Academic text (2002)

  • I did some research on William Penn and this property.

    The TRIP (2024)

  • The governor, William Penn, actually sat on a trial as one of the judges.

    Pennhurst (2012)

  • Anyway, William Penn's grandson built the house, big beautiful house.

    The TRIP (2024)

  • And in 1680, William Penn was granted land from the 40th to the 43rd parallel (i.e., Pennsylvania).

    Academic text (2006)

  • William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1681 as a refuge for Quakers.

  • The legacy of William Penn includes his commitment to tolerance and friendship with Native Americans.

  • In Philadelphia, you can visit the statue of William Penn atop City Hall.

Synonyms

William Penn
vsPenn
3.8

An English Quaker who founded the colony of Pennsylvania

is the shorter name form without life dates

Surface Forms

Penn main

Etymology

Penn is the family name of William Penn, an English Quaker who founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681. The name Pennsylvania means 'Penn's woods' because the -sylvania part means 'woods', so his name still appears in the state and the university name.