Spanish jewellery-Gold and emerald pendant at VAM-01

WLA lacma Indonesia Bird Pendant ca 100 BC-AD 300

A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''pendere'' and

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

word ''pendr'', both of which translate to "to hang down". In modern French, ''pendant'' is the

gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...

form of ''pendre'' ("to hang") and also means "during". The extent to which the design of a pendant can be incorporated into an overall necklace makes it not always accurate to treat them as separate items. In some cases, though, the separation between necklace and pendant is far clearer.

Overview

Pendants are among the oldest recorded types of bodily adornment. Stone, shell, pottery, and more perishable materials were used. Ancient Egyptians commonly wore pendants, some shaped like

hieroglyphs A hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatonis ...

. Pendants can have several functions, which may be combined: *

Award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

(i.e.,

Scouting Ireland Chief Scout's Award The Chief Scout Award is the highest youth programme award in each of the Programme Sections in Scouting Ireland. It is designed to tie-in with the Gaisce Award/Duke of Edinburgh's Award, and the Chief Scout Award for Scouts, Venture Scouts, an ...

Order of CúChulainn The Order of CúChulainn is the highest award for adults in Scouting Ireland. History It was introduced in 2004 to replace Scouting Ireland (CSI)'s ''Order of the Silver Wolfhound'' and the equivalent award of Scouting Ireland S.A.I., the ''Ord ...

) * Identification (i.e., religious symbols, sexual symbols, symbols of rock bands) *

Ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

Ostentation In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen co ...

(i.e.,

jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

). *

Protection Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

(i.e., amulets, religious symbols) *

Self-affirmation Self-affirmation theory is a psychological theory that focuses on how individuals adapt to information or experiences that are threatening to their self-concept. Claude Steele originally popularized self-affirmation theory in the late 1980s,St ...

(i.e., initials, names) The many specialized types of pendants include

locket A locket is a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a lock of hair. Lockets are usually given to loved ones on holidays such as Valentine's Day and occasions such as christenings, wedding ...

s which open, often to reveal an image, and

pendilia Pendilia (singular pendilium; from Latin ''pendulus'', hanging) or pendoulia (the Greek equivalent), are pendants or dangling ornaments hanging from a piece of metalwork such as a crown, votive crown, crux gemmata, or kamelaukion, and are a featu ...

, which hang from larger objects of

metalwork Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

Types

Throughout the ages, pendants have come in a variety of forms to serve a variety of purposes.

Amulet

Though

amulets An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...

come in many forms, a wearable amulet worn around the neck or on the arm or leg in the form of a pendant is the most common. These are objects believed to possess magical or spiritual power to protect the wearer from danger or dispel evil influences.

Talisman

Similar to an amulet, a talisman is an object believed to possess supernatural traits. However, while an amulet is strictly a defensive object, a talisman is meant to confer special benefits or powers upon the wearer.

Locket

A locket is a small object that opens to reveal a space which serves to hold a small object, usually a photograph or a curl of hair. They typically come in the form of a pendant hanging from a necklace, though they will occasionally be hung from a charm bracelet.

Medallion

A medallion is most often a coin-shaped piece of metal worn as a pendant around the neck or pinned onto clothing. These are generally granted as awards, recognitions, or religious blessings.

Painting

Pendant is the name given to one of two paintings conceived as a pair. They usually are gift from couples and some cultures consider the act of giving one a marry proposition.

Functional pendants

Memmingen - Wallenstein 2016 - Ringsonnenuhr

Tools worn as pendants include Maori pounamu pendants.

Shepherd's whistle A shepherd's whistle is a specialized, modulatable, variable-pitch whistle used to train and transmit commands to working dogs and other animals. Unlike other whistles, they are placed inside the mouth. The pitch is controlled by the placement ...

bosun's whistle A boatswain's call, pipe or bosun's whistle is a pipe or a non-diaphragm type whistle used on naval ships by a boatswain. The pipe consists of a narrow tube (the gun) which directs air over a metal sphere (the buoy) with a hole in the top. The ...

s, and ocarinas can also be made as pendants. Portable

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxi ...

and navigational instruments were made as pendants. In the first decade of the 21st century, jewellers started to incorporate

USB flash drive Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A bro ...

s into pendants.

Fashion pendants

Fashion pendants include a small creative piece often made from precious or non-precious stones and metals like diamonds or pearls hanging freely from a chain or necklace. These are generally worn as a statement piece or a fashion ornament.

Other types

* Harness pendant

References

{{Jewellery Jewellery components Necklaces Types of jewellery