Wiktionary

Jenny

See also: jenny and Jenný

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Jen +‎ -y, historically as a hypochoristic form of Janet, Jane, etc. or (rarely) Eugenia, Virginia, etc. but now more often used as a diminutive of Jennifer.

Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, 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. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Source required for the claim of "engine" here.”)

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Jenny (plural Jennys or Jennies)

  1. A female given name.
    • 1837, Leigh Hunt, Jenny Kissed Me:
      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.
    • 1840, Frederick Marryat, chapter IV, in Poor Jack:
      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 laugh, and make a point of calling out "Jenny" to Virginia whenever they passed and saw her at the door.
    • 1994, Gerald N[iels] Lund, chapter 27, in A Season of Joy: A Historical Novel (The Work and the Glory; 5), Salt Lake City, Ut.: Bookcraft, published 1996 (3rd printing), →ISBN, pages 452–453:
      Jennifer Jo McIntire (with two Jennys now, everyone had followed Matthew’s lead and taken to calling her by her full name) […]
  2. A surname.
    • 2003, Roy Strong, “The Inheritance”, in The Laskett: The Story of a Garden, London: Bantam Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 25:
      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.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Dutch: Jenny
  • → Faroese: Jenný
  • → Finnish: Jenny
  • → German: Jenny
  • → Spanish: Jenny
  • → Swedish: Jenny

Translations

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Noun

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Jenny (plural Jennies)

  1. (UK, informal) A Wren (a member of the WRNS).
  2. (slang) A Curtiss JN-4 airplane.
  3. Alternative letter-case form of jenny.

Derived terms

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Cebuano

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Etymology

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From English Jenny.

Proper noun

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Jenny

  1. a female given name from English

Danish

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Etymology

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From English Jenny.

Proper noun

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Jenny

  1. a female given name

Norwegian

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Etymology

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From English Jenny.

Proper noun

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Jenny

  1. a female given name

Swedish

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From English Jenny, diminutive of Jane. First recorded in Sweden in 1767. Later also used as a Swedish diminutive of Eugenia.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Jenny c (genitive Jennys)

  1. a female given name

References

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  • Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, →ISBN
  • [1] Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, →ISBN: 47 317 females with the given name Jenny living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1970s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.
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