means A piece of jewelry or ornament that hangs down, typically suspended from a chain or cord around the neck.

from From the French pendant, literally "hanging," the present participle of pendre, "to hang" — itself from Latin pendere, "to hang or be suspended." That same Latin root drips through a whole family of dangling words: pending (still hanging in the balance), suspend, and even pendulum. So a pendant is, etymologically, just a thing caught mid-hang — frozen in the act of dropping.