pendant [ME] This was originally a term for an architectural decoration projecting downwards. It comes from penda(u)nt, an Old French word meaning ‘hanging’, from Latin pendere. The adjective pendent is Middle English. Pendant was used from Late Middle English for a jewel attached to clothing but later it was applied to one attached to a necklace. Use of the word for a light fitting hanging from the ceiling dates from the mid 19th century. Pending [M17th] is an anglicization of French pendant. Pendulum [M17th] is taken directly from Latin, as is pendulous [E17th]. Suspend [ME] combined this root with sub- ‘from below’, compensation [LME] is something that ‘weighs against’ something that has happened, depend [LME] is ‘hang down’, with independent [E17th] its opposite and recompence [LME] originally ‘to weigh one thing against another’.