Where does “suspend” come from?
Suspend comes from Old French sospendre, from Latin suspendo meaning to hang up, itself from Latin pendo meaning to hang, with the prefix sub- meaning under, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots (s)pend- and upo and h₃ewp-.
suspend (English): To halt something temporarily; To hold in an...
Definitions
- To halt something temporarily; To hold in an...
Ancestry of “suspend”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | sospendre | — |
| 2 | Latin | suspendere | third-person plural perfect active indicative of... |
| 3 | Latin | pendēre | — |
| 4 | Latin | pendō | to weigh, weigh out |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | pendō | hang, put in a hanging position |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)péndeti | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)pend- | to stretch |