A fountain pen is a pen that contains a reservoir of water-based liquid ink. If it uses ink cartridges instead of having a built-in ink reservoir, it is often called cartridge pen. From the reservoir or the ink cartridge, the ink is drawn through a feed to the nib and then to the paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action, so most fountain pens require no pressure to write.

Filling the built-in reservoir with ink usually involves operating an internal mechanism which sucks ink from a bottle through the nib into the reservoir. These mechanisms are typically pistons or rubber sacs. Cartridge pens are filled by simply replacing the empty ink cartridge with a new factory-filled one.

The earliest historical record of a reservoir pen dates back to the 10th century. In 953, Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, the caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib via gravity and capillary action. As recorded by Qadi al-Nu'man al-Tamimi (d.

974) in his Kitdb al-Majalis wa 'l-musayardt, al-Mu’izz commissioned the construction of the pen instructing:

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