pencil skirt

/ˈpɛnsəl skɜːt/

noun

A slim skirt (clothing) with a straight and narrow cut, usually approximately knee-length.

“Anna decided to wear a black pencil skirt with her blue blouse that day to work.”

Meanings

nounpencil skirt (plural pencil skirts)

plural pencil skirts

  1. A slim skirt (clothing) with a straight and narrow cut, usually approximately knee-length.

    Anna decided to wear a black pencil skirt with her blue blouse that day to work.

    2 more examples

    And for Italian sportswear giant MaxMara, the cornerstone of the show was a crisp khaki safari jacket shown over a pencil skirt.

    2004 November 1, Kate Betts, “Into the Wild”, in Time

    For a long while I said any girl could get through round one of MasterChef simply by turning up in a pencil skirt and making a fried Nutella sandwich with condensed milk and an expression that says, "I like older men with no hair".

    2011 February 12, Grace Dent, The Guardian

Origin

From pencil + skirt, referring to its shape.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian тясна пола
  • тясна пола (tjasna pola)very narrow skirt
Catalan faldilla de llapis
  • faldilla de llapisvery narrow skirt
Chinese Mandarin 鉛筆裙 /铅笔裙
  • 鉛筆裙 /铅笔裙 (qiānbǐqún)very narrow skirt
Dutch kokerrok, potloodrok
  • kokerrokvery narrow skirt
  • potloodrokvery narrow skirt
French jupe-crayon
  • jupe-crayonvery narrow skirt
German Bleistiftrock
  • Bleistiftrockvery narrow skirt
Portuguese saia lápis, saia tubo
  • saia lápisvery narrow skirt
  • saia tubovery narrow skirt
Spanish falda de tubo, falda lápiz
  • falda de tubovery narrow skirt
  • falda lápizvery narrow skirt
  • pollera tubovery narrow skirt
Swedish pennkjol
  • pennkjolvery narrow skirt
Cite this entry
APA

pencil skirt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencil%20skirt

MLA

“pencil skirt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencil%20skirt. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pencil skirt,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencil%20skirt.

Source: pencil skirt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.