- pendant (n.)
- c.1400, "loose, hanging part of anything," from Anglo-Fr. pendaunt "hanging" (c.1300), from O.Fr. pendant (13c.), noun use of prp. of pendre "to hang," from L. pendere "to hang," from PIE base *(s)pen(d)- "to pull, stretch" (see span (v.)). Meaning "dangling part of an earring" is attested from 1555. Nautical sense of "tapering flag" is recorded from 1485. "In this sense presumably a corruption of pennon" [OED].