Jessica

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.

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

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

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.

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

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

From English Jessica.

Jessica

1. a female given name

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Jessica.

Recently borrowed from English Jessica.

Jessica

1. a female given name

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

• IPA^(key): /ʒɛ.si.ka/, /ʒe.si.ka/

• Audio

  (file)

Jessica f

1. a female given name

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

• Audio

  (file)

Jessica

1. a female given name

Unadapted borrowing from English Jessica.

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʐɛˈsi.ka/

• Audio

  (file)

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

Jessica f

1. Alternative spelling of Dżesika.

• Jessica in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• Jessika

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

Jessica c (genitive Jessicas)

1. a female given name