Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.A pencil is a writing or drawing device consisting of a slippery, thin stick of pigment (usually graphite, but can also be colored pigment or charcoal) and clay, usually encased in a thin wood cylinder, although paper and plastic sheaths are also used. Pencils are noticeably distinct from pens, which use a liquid marking material. The archetypal pencil may have been the stylus, which was a thin metal stick, often made from lead and used for scratching in papyrus, a form of early paper. They were used extensively by the ancient Egyptians and Romans. The word pencil comes from the Latin word pencillus which means "little tail".