pane

noun

ˈpān 

: a piece, section, or side of something: such as

a

: a framed sheet of glass in a window or door

frost on a window pane

b

: one of the sections into which a sheet of postage stamps is cut for distribution

paned

ˈpānd 

adjective

paneless

ˈpān-ləs 

adjective

Examples of pane in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The first sounds are an electronic haze that swirls like an auditory representation of the dry ice shrouding the set designer Mimi Lien’s narrow catwalk intersected by a movable pane of glass. —Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2025

Every pane is an abstraction of the traditional Fresnel lenses used in lighthouses all over Nova Scotia. —Jeanine Barone, Forbes, 9 Jan. 2025

Getting Started With Canvas The Canvas interface shows two side-by-side panes. —David Nield, WIRED, 6 Dec. 2024

My personality is Paleozoic: sea urchin, horn lantern with the panes of horn left out. —Max Ufberg, hazlitt.net, 10 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English pane, pan, payne, peyne "panel of an ornamental hanging or a curtain, side of a building, section of a wall, windowpane," borrowed from Anglo-French pan, pane "piece of cloth, tail of a shirt, skirt of a coat, parcel, stretch, territory" (also continental Old & Middle French), going back to Latin pannus "piece of cloth, rag" — more at vane

Note: Homonymous with Middle English pane in these senses is pane "cloak, mantle, fur lining or trim of a garment, rich fur or fabric," borrowed from Anglo-French and Old French penne, panne in these senses. Middle English Dictionary groups these with all the other senses of panne, but the Oxford English Dictionary and Anglo-Norman Dictionary treat them separately, as descended from Latin pinna "feather" (see pen entry 3), reflecting a calque of Old High German fedara, meaning both "feather" and "article made of fur" (or a cognate Germanic form).

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

pane

noun

ˈpān 

1

: a piece, section, or side of something (as a sheet of glass in a window)

2

: one of the sections (as of 50 or 100 stamps) into which a sheet of postage stamps is divided