Jessica

Jessica

See also: Jéssica and Jessicą

English

Etymology

First used by William Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice in the early 17th century, probably from Hebrew יִסְכָּה‎ (yiskah, “Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe version”), a proper name meaning "one who looks forth" (but apparently not used as an ordinary word with that meaning).

• By folk etymology seen as an elaborate form of Jessie, from Jane.

Pronunciation

• enPR: jĕsʹĭkə, IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛsɪkə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Proper noun

Jessica (plural Jessicas)

1. A female given name from Hebrew.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i]:

     Lorenzo: In such a night / Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew, / And with an unthrift love did run from Venice, / As far as Belmont.

     Jessica: In such a night / Did young Lorenzo swear he lov'd her well, / Stealing her soul with many vows of faith, / And ne'er a true one.

     Lorenzo: In such a night / Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew, / Slander her love, and he forgave it her.

   • 1996, Tad Williams, The Writer's Child, The Sandman Book of Dreams, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 154:

     She will be beautiful, of course - how could our child not be beautiful? We will name her...Jessica. Yes, that's a good name, not one of those lighter-than-air names so popular among writers of romances and fairy tales. That's a name a real little girl might have.

   • 2015, Sunjeev Sahota, The Year of the Runaways, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN:

     Jessica. It was, she later thought, a name well suited to whitehaired ladies with bright blue eyes.

Usage notes

• Formerly rare, but from the 1970s to the 2010s popular in all English-speaking countries.

Related terms

• (diminutives): Jess, Jessie, Jes, Jessa.

Translations

a female given name

Arabic: جِيسِيكَا‎ f (jesikā) Chinese: Mandarin: 傑西卡／杰西卡 (zh) (Jiéxīkǎ) Danish: Jessica Esperanto: Jiska Finnish: Jessika (fi) French: Jessica (fr) German: Jessica (de) Greek: Ιεσική (Iesikí) Ancient Greek: Ἰεσχά (Ieskhá) Hindi: जेसिका (jesikā) Hungarian: Dzsesszika (hu) Inuktitut: ᔨᔅᓯᑲ (yissika) Italian: Jessica (it) f Japanese: ジェシカ (Jeshika) Korean: 제시카 (Jesika) Polish: Dżesika (pl) f, Jessica (pl) f Portuguese: Jéssica (pt) f Russian: Дже́ссика (ru) f (Džéssika) Spanish: Jéssica (es), Jésica, Yésica (es), Yéssica, Jesica (es), Yessica (es) Swedish: Jessica (sv), Jessika (sv) Thai: เจสสิกา

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Cebuano

Etymology

From English Jessica.

Proper noun

Jessica

1. a female given name

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Jessica.

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Danish

Etymology

Recently borrowed from English Jessica.

Proper noun

Jessica

1. a female given name

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from English Jessica, popular at the end of the 20th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒɛ.si.ka/, /ʒe.si.ka/

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Jessica f

1. a female given name

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German

Etymology

Borrowed from English Jessica, popular at the end of the 20th century.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Jessica

1. a female given name

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Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Jessica.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʐɛˈsi.ka/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ika
• Syllabification: Je‧ssi‧ca
• Homophone: Dżesika

Proper noun

Jessica f

1. Alternative spelling of Dżesika.

Declension

Declension of Jessica

	singular	plural
nominative	Jessica	Jessiki
genitive	Jessiki	Jessic
dative	Jessice	Jessicom
accusative	Jessicę	Jessiki
instrumental	Jessicą	Jessicami
locative	Jessice	Jessicach
vocative	Jessico	Jessiki

Further reading

• Jessica in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Swedish

Alternative forms

• Jessika

Etymology

Borrowed from English Jessica, popular at the end of the 20th century.

Proper noun

Jessica c (genitive Jessicas)

1. a female given name