Revised as of
16 Dec 2022
I was reading (I know, what a surprise, you cheeky buggers), and I ran across the author using pendent to describe a piece of jewelry. Well, I knew that wasn’t right, so quite self-righteously I made a note to myself. Then I found out the author was right.
Oh, the shame of it all . . .
It seems that pendant and pendent are alternative spellings for anything suspended from something (as an adjective) and for nouns.
Where the two don’t mesh is in the adjectives with pendant continuing on with complementing something and pendent sticking out, unfinished, or undecided. And I gotta confess that I’ve never used or read either word being used in these particular meanings.
So that’s one on me!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Pendant | Pendent |
|---|---|
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Rood Screen Arches in the Church of the Madeleine, Troyes, France, is GO69’s own work under the CC0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — The arches of this rood screen are a’bloom in pendants. |
Bryoria fremontii, Peyto Lake, Banff, Alberta, by Jason Hollinger is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — This lichen is but one of many that are pendent. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective; Noun
Plural for noun: pendants Alternative spelling: pendent, pennant |
Adjective; Noun
Plural for noun: pendents |
| Adjective: Hanging downward
Noun:
A light designed to hang from the ceiling An ornament suspended from a roof, vault, or ceiling A separate ring attached to the bow of a pocket watch by which it is suspended
An artistic, literary, or musical composition intended to match or complement another
[Nautical] Pennant |
Adjective: Hanging down or suspended Overhanging
Undecided
Impending [Grammar; especially of a sentence] Incomplete
Noun: |
| Examples: | |
| Adjective: Lilies-of-the-valley are pendant flowers on frail stems. That’s an interesting pendant light. “The Legally Blonde actress is wearing a cream cardigan over a denim wrap top, along with a gold pendant necklace and chunky gold hoop earrings” (Sanchez). Noun: For Valentine’s Day, George got me a gold necklace with a rose pendant. Karole Sharpe makes some amazing pendant lamps. Pendant pocket watches tend to have ornate front cases. Most pendants aboard ship are named for their use: guy pendants, fish-hook pendants, clear hawse pendants, etc. (Masts). The triptych’s pendant will occupy the corresponding wall in the south transept. “A pendant vault is a rare form of vault used in late Gothic architecture in which large decorative pendants hang from the vault at a distance from the walls” (Pendant). |
Adjective: A pendent light over the kitchen island would be perfect. Pendent lichens include Alectoria, Bryoria, and Usnea. El Capitan in Yosemite National Park is considered a roof pendent because it was once the roof of the underlying granitic rock. Is that lawsuit against XYZ still pendent? The use of jurisdiction to decide pendent claims makes it easier. A pendent nominative is a construction having no verb. Noun: For Valentine’s Day, George got me a gold necklace with a rose pendent. Karole Sharpe makes some amazing pendent lamps. Pendent pocket watches tend to have ornate front cases. Most pendents aboard ship are named for their use: guy pendent, fish-hook pendent, clear hawse pendent, etc. (Masts). The triptych’s pendent will occupy the corresponding wall in the south transept. “A pendent vault is a rare form of vault used in late Gothic architecture in which large decorative pendent hang from the vault at a distance from the walls” (Pendant). |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: nonpendant, pendanted, pendantlike, unpendant | Adjective: nonpendent, semipendent, unpendent Adverb: nonpendently, pendently Noun: pendency, pendentive |
| History of the Word: | |
| From Middle English denoting an architectural decoration projecting downwards is from the Old French, literally meaning hanging, present participle of the verb pendre, from the Latin pendere. | 1275-1325, from the Latin pendent- (a stem of pendēns) and the present participle of pendēre meaning to hang, which replaces the Middle English pendaunt, which is from the Anglo-French — the Old French pendant, which is a present participle of pendre, which is itself from the Latin pendēre. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Pendant versus Pendent
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: pendant, pendent
“Masts.” San Francisco Maritime National Park Association. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://maritime.org/doc/merchant/deck/part2.htm>.
“Pendant Vault.” Wikipedia. Last update 3 May 2020. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendant_vault>.
Sanchez, Chelsey. “Reese Witherspoon and Daughter Ava Look Just Like Twins in a New Photo.” Harper’s BAZAAR. 27 Sept 2022. Web. n.d. <https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a41405547/reese-witherspoon-ava-twins-photo/>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Yosemite El Capitan by Mike Murphy is under the GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0, or CC BY-SA 2.0 license, and Colgante 3 copia is Pedro MGT’s own work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; both are via Wikimedia Commons.
