Meanings
alternative panem · alternative panum · alternative pannam · alternative pennam
- UKobsoleteuncountablethieves' cantBread; food.
As far as injun, pannum, and cheese, and a drop of heavy goes, you are perfectly welcome.
1844, Charles Selby, London by Night, act 1, scene 22 more examples
Here's Pannum and Lap, and good Poplars of Yarrum, / To fill up the Crib, and to comfort the Quarron.
1641–42, Richard Brome, A Joviall Crew, or, The Merry Beggars, published 1652, act 2I have a rorty gal, also a knowing pal, / And merrily together we jog on, / I doesn't care a flatch, as long as I've a tach, / Some pannum for my chest, and a tog on.
c. 1864, Alfred Peck Stevens, “The Chickaleary Cove”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896, page 161
Origin
- Italianpane“bread”
- Latinpānem
- Englishpannum
Compare Norwegian Rodi cant pannom/panum, meaning loaf; Swedish Månsing cant pan (“loaf”), and old jargon Dutch paen (“bread”). Having in mind the fact that Rodi and Månsing tend to have many Latin borrowings, it is likely that English pannum is also derived from Latin pānem, the accusative of pānis (“bread, loaf”). But it also may be through Italian pane (“bread”), in the light of that the English thieves' cant is known to have some Italian borrowings as well.
More words from Latin, Italian
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
pannum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pannum
“pannum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pannum. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pannum,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pannum.
Source: pannum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.