pend/pens
pend / pens
Why expensive comes from hanging something up
The picture A thing hanging from a string, still swinging, not yet settled on the ground. Nothing is decided while it hangs. ten is held tight in the hand; pend is left hanging on a string.
Where the picture shows up in pend/pens
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Hanging off someone else
It depends on the weather.
ɪt dɪˈpendz ɒn ðə ˈweðər
It depends on the weather.
Your plan hanging by a string from a nail called weather, swinging.
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Hung up and stopped
My account was suspended.
maɪ əˈkaʊnt wəz səˈspendɪd
My account was suspended.
An account left hanging in mid-air, stopped on its hook.
sus (under) + pend (hang): hang something from a hook and it cannot move.
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Still swinging, undecided
The order is still pending.
ðiː ˈɔːrdər ɪz stɪl ˈpendɪŋ
The order hasn't gone through yet.
An order still floating, not yet touching the ground.
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Weighed out on a scale
That phone is too expensive.
ðæt foʊn ɪz tuː ɪkˈspensɪv
That phone costs too much.
A scale with goods on one pan and money on the other, balancing out.
Money used to be weighed — hung on a balance — which is how hanging turned into paying.
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Money weighed out each month
He lives on a small pension.
hiː lɪvz ɒn ə smɔːl ˈpenʃən
He lives on a small pension.
Money weighed off the scale a little at a time each month and put in the hand.
All of it in one picture
pend and pens mean it is still hanging, not yet down. Hang it off someone else's nail and it depends; hang it up and stop it and it is suspended; leave it swinging and it is pending. Weigh it out against money and it is expensive; weigh a little off each month and it is a pension. So a pend or pens word always carries the feeling that nothing has settled yet.