pendulous
/ˈpɛndjʊləs/
"pendulous" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pendulous” is uncommon English (frequency #84,603 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,603
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Hanging from, or as if from, a support.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pendulous · pendulous · English
pendulous · rank #84,603 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #84,603
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH Pavlovian
Nearest frequency peer: Pavlovian (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “pendulous”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- pathogenici…
pathogenicity
15,403 corpus weight
- Pavlovian
Pavlovian
15,400 corpus weight
- pendulous
pendulous
15,398 corpus weight
- pericardium
pericardium
15,396 corpus weight
- Petrovic
Petrovic
15,394 corpus weight
- physiognomy
physiognomy
15,393 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “pendulous” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pendulous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpɛndjʊləs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #84,603 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “pendulous” in English
Rare enough to double-check
pendulous is uncommon English at frequency #84,603 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈpɛndjʊləs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for pendulous in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin pendulus (“pendant”), from pendeō (“I hang”). The correct English form is pendulous, spelled P-E-N-D-U-L-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Hanging from, or as if from, a support.
- 2Indecisive or hesitant
- 3Having branches etc. that bend downwards; drooping or weeping
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how pendulous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The prehistorian Andre Leroi-Gourhan has identified it as "a woman holding a bison horn." With her large pendulous breasts, great stomach, and immense hips, this Paleolithic Madonna is of a type found with countless other figurines in excavations from Spain to the Soviet Union.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin pendulus (“pendant”), from pendeō (“I hang”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pendulous", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).