jenny
Syllables: jen·ny/ˈd͡ʒɛni/
jenny noun: a device for spinning thread from fiber onto multiple spindles (also called spinning jenny).
Noun (1)
jenny (plural jennies)
- A device for spinning thread from fiber onto multiple spindles (also called spinning jenny).
- A female donkey.
- A female wren.
- A female cat.
- Of course all the stock went by road and the house cat—a jenny it was—was put into a basket and driven in the trap along with one or two particular things and the women.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
- A female crab.
- A catmill.
- In billiards and similar games, a powerful follow shot with plenty of topspin.
- Cream's potting had been extraordinary, extraordinary, I remember, said Goff. I never saw anything like it. We were watching breathless, as he set himself for a long thin jenny, with the black of all balls.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC
Verb
jenny (third-person singular simple present jennies, present participle jennying, simple past and past participle jennied)
Proper noun capitalized: Jenny
Jenny (plural Jennys or Jennies)
- A female given name.
- Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kissed me.1837, Leigh Hunt, Jenny Kissed Me - All this I recollect, but little more, except my mother gave me several beatings for calling my sister "Jenny", which I had learnt to do from others who knew her; but when my mother heard them, she was always very angry, and told them that her child had not such a vulgar name; at which many would...1840, Frederick Marryat, chapter IV, in Poor Jack
- Jenny kissed me when we met,
- A surname.
- Mrs Wreford Brown died in 1946 and the house passed to Colonel and Mrs Jenny. […] From the Jennys it fell into the hands of developers and from them it passed to Colonel and Mrs Bryant and thence to us.2003, Roy Strong, “The Inheritance”, in The Laskett: The Story of a Garden, London: Bantam Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 25
Noun (2) capitalized: Jenny
Jenny (plural Jennies)
jenny meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
jenny in Hindi
- जेनी, जेन्नी
jenny in Tamil
- ஜென்னி, ஜென்னீ
jenny in Marathi
- जेनी, जेन्नी, जेनीला
jenny in Urdu
- جینی
More languagesFewer languages
- jenny in Bengali
- জেনি, জেন্নি, জেনির কাছে
- jenny in Telugu
- జెన్నీ, జెన్ని, జెన్నీకి
- jenny in Malayalam
- ജെന്നി, ജെന്നീ, ജെന്നിക്ക്
- jenny in Kannada
- ಜೆನ್ನಿ, ಜೆನ್ನೀ
- jenny in Punjabi
- ਜੈਨੀ, ਜੇਨੀ
- jenny in Gujarati
- જેન્ની, જેન્નીને
- jenny in Odia
- ଜେନି, ଜେନ୍ନି, ଜେନିଙ୍କୁ
- jenny in Nepali
- जेनी, जेन्नी, जेनि
Examples of jenny in a sentence
- Jenny is a talented musician, playing the cello, saxophone, piano and guitar.
- Jenny is a compulsive liar—don't believe a thing she says.
- Jenny took Sam to her Year 12 formal.
Forms of jenny
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | jennies |
| alternative form | Jenny |
| plural | Jennies |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | jennies |
| present participle | jennying |
| past participle | jennied |
| past | jennied |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Jennys |
| plural | Jennies |
| alternative form | Jenni |
| alternative form | Jennie |
Origin of jenny
Partially from generic use of the female given name Jenny (cf. Jane) and partially from informal pronunciations of engine.
From Jen + -y, historically as a hypochoristic form of Janet, Jane, etc. but now more often used as a diminutive of Jennifer. Rarely also a nickname of Genevieve (compare Genny, pronounced the same), Eugenia or Virginia (compare Ginny). Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna in derivations from Jane etc. In senses related to inanimate objects, partially derived from the generic senses of Jane and partially an informal pronunciation of engine.
Words formed from jenny
Phrases with jenny
Words that rhyme with jenny
Questions about jenny
- What does jenny mean?
- Jenny means a device for spinning thread from fiber onto multiple spindles (also called spinning jenny).
- What is jenny in Hindi?
- Jenny in Hindi is जेनी, जेन्नी. See Jenny meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is jenny?
- Jenny can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce jenny?
- Jenny is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛni/.
- What is the plural of jenny?
- The plural of jenny is jennies.
Words near jenny in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jenny (page history and authors); Jenny (page history and authors); jenny (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jenny (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-Jenny.ogg, en-us-jenny.ogg.
Cite this entry: “jenny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jenny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.