Where does “pensive” come from?

Pensive derives from French pensif, from French penser and Latin pendo, meaning to weigh or consider, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European (s)pend-.

pensive (English): Having the appearance of deep, often melancholic,...

Definitions

  1. Having the appearance of deep, often melancholic,...

Ancestry of “pensive”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchpensifpensive, thoughtful
2Latinpensōto ponder, consider
3Latinpendōto weigh, weigh out
4Proto-Italicpendōhang, put in a hanging position
5Proto-Indo-European(s)péndeti—
6Proto-Indo-European(s)pend-to stretch

Words derived from “pensive”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)pend- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)péndeti →Every word from Proto-Italic pendō →