DCHP-2

pencil crayon DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — often Education

  a pencil with a coloured core (see Image 1).

  Type: 2. Preservation — Pencil crayon is most likely a North American creation for what is elsewhere called a "colo(u)ring pencil" or "colo(u)red pencil". Pencil crayon appears to be an American innovation that has been preserved in Canada, with the earliest quotation found in The New York Times in 1906. The earliest UK evidence is from 1965; the earliest Canadian quotation is from 1956 (see the quotation below). The frequency of use in Canada is more than double the use in both the US and Britain (see Chart 1), which makes this a Canadianism by virtue of Frequency (Type 5) in addition to Preservation (Type 2). The frequency in Australia is also a bit higher, which poses some questions. While the scenario of an American influence in Australia is possible, given the discourse around the Americanization of Australian English vocabulary, it is somewhat unlikely in this case.
  See also COD-2, s.v. "pencil crayon", which labels the term "Cdn", and OED-3, which lists it as "chiefly North American".

  • Note that the Canadian branches of international chains accommodate to the Canadian term pencil crayon without having to rewrite much of their supply chain database. As seen in Image 2, the search term "pencil crayon" produces the full range of results for what is, obviously, in the Staples system, called "coloured pencil".