pensum

P3E1N1S1U1M3

noun

A task or imposition set as a school punishment.

OriginLatin pensum →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nounpensum (plural pensums)

plural pensums

  1. datedA task or imposition set as a school punishment.

    You invent nothing, you think you are inventing, you think you are escaping, and all you do is stammer out your lesson, the remnants of a pensum one day got by heart and long forgotten, life without tears, as it wept.

    1955, Samuel Beckett, translated by Patrick Bowles, Molloy

Origin

  1. Latinpensum
  2. Englishpensum

Borrowed from Latin pensum. Doublet of peso.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pensum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pensum

MLA

“pensum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pensum. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pensum,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pensum.

Source: pensum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.