Pendant or pendent?
pendant is a noun meaning “A supporting post attached to the main rafter”; pendent is an adjective meaning “Dangling, drooping, hanging down or suspended”. Use pendant as a noun and pendent as an adjective. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) pendant is about 23 times as common as pendent.
What is the difference between pendant and pendent?
| pendant | pendent | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | A supporting post attached to the main rafter A piece of jewellery which hangs down as an ornament, especially worn on a chain around the neck | Dangling, drooping, hanging down or suspended Pending (in various senses) |
| Example | One vase is the pendant to the other vase | none recorded |
| Forms | pendants | none |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpɛnd(ə)nt/ [ˈpɛndn̩t] /ˈpɪ̟nd(ə)nt/ | /ˈpɛndənt/ |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words | about once in every 9 million words |
Sources: pendant and pendent in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of pendant and pendent
pendant
- 1
A supporting post attached to the main rafter
- 2
A piece of jewellery which hangs down as an ornament, especially worn on a chain around the neck
- 3
The dangling part of an earring
- 4
A short rope hanging down, used to attach hooks for tackles; a pennant
- 5
One of a pair; a counterpart
One vase is the pendant to the other vase
- 6
USThe stem and ring of a watch, by which it is suspended
- 7
A lamp hanging from the roof
- 8
An ornament of wood or of stone hanging downwards from a roof
pendent
- 1
Dangling, drooping, hanging down or suspended
- 2
Alternative spelling of pendant
- 3
Pending (in various senses)
- 4
Either hanging in some sense, or constructed of multiple elements such as the voussoirs of an arch or the pendentives of a dome, none of which can stand on its own, but which in combination are…
- 5
Hanging or pointed downward; (of a crescent) with its horns pointing downward
- 6
Incomplete in some sense, such as lacking a finite verb
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, pendant or pendent?
pendant appears 2.7 times per million words; pendent about once in every 9 million words.
pendant 2.7 times per million wordspendent about once in every 9 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search pendant vs pendent?
“pendant vs pendent” is searched about 210 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“pendent vs pendant”, “pendant or pendent”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.