Standard Lemma guide

pendulum

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɛnd͡ʒʊləm/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɛndjʊləm/
  • General-American: /ˈpɛnd͡ʒələm/
  • General-American: /ˈpɛnd(j)ələm/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • pin-pen-merger: /ˈpɪ̟nd͡ʒələm/
  • pin-pen-merger: /ˈpɪ̟nd(j)ələm/
  • CMU ARPABET: P EH1 N JH AH0 L AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A body suspended from a fixed support so that it swings freely back and forth under the influence of gravity, commonly used to regulate various devices such as clocks.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: clocks

Topics: engineering, mechanical-engineering, mechanics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A body suspended from a fixed support so that it swings freely back and forth under the influence of gravity, commonly used to regulate various devices such as clocks.

The tendency of a situation to oscillate (between two extremes).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

Qualifier: clocks

Topics: engineering, mechanical-engineering, mechanics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A lamp, etc. suspended from a ceiling.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A watch's guard-ring by which it is attached to a chain.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an apparatus consisting of an object mounted so that it swings freely under the influence of gravity

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: apparatus, setup

Narrower terms: Foucault pendulum, metronome, physical pendulum, compound pendulum, simple pendulum

History

Etymology

Borrowed from the neuter of Latin pendulus (“hanging”).

Across languages

Translations

82 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: lavjerrës — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Arabic: نُوَاس (nuwās) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Arabic: رَقَّاص (raqqāṣ) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Arabic: بَنْدُول (bandūl) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Armenian: ճոճանակ (čočanak) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Azerbaijani: kəfgir — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Basque: pendulu — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Belarusian: ма́ятнік (májatnik) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Bulgarian: маха́ло (mahálo) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Burmese: ချိန်သီး (hkyinsi:) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Catalan: pèndol — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鐘擺 /钟摆 (zhōngbǎi) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Chinese Mandarin: 擺 /摆 (bǎi) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Chinese Mandarin: 擺鐘 /摆钟 (bǎizhōng) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Czech: kyvadlo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Danish: pendul — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Dutch: slinger — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Esperanto: pendolo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Estonian: pendel — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Finnish: heiluri — body suspended from a fixed support
  • French: pendule — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Galician: péndulo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Georgian: ქანქარა (kankara) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • German: Pendel — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Greek: εκκρεμές (ekkremés) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Hebrew: מְטוּטֶלֶת (metutelet) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Hindi: लोलक (lolak) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Hindi: दोलक (dolak) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Hindi: लंगर (laṅgar) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Hungarian: inga — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Icelandic: pendúll — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Icelandic: dingull — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Icelandic: hengill — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Icelandic: kólfur — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Ido: pendulo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Indonesian: bandul — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Italian: pendolo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Japanese: 振り子 (furiko) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Kazakh: маятник (maätnik) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Khmer: បណ្ដូន (bɑɑbɑndoun) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Khmer: ប៉ោល (paol) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Korean: 진자 (jinja) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Kyrgyz: маятник (mayatnik) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Lao: ຫມາກກະໂຕ້ນ (māk ka tōn) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Latin: pendulum — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Latvian: svārsts — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Lithuanian: švytuoklė — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Lithuanian: svyruoklė — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Macedonian: нишало (nišalo) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Malay: bandul — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Māori: tārere — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Mongolian: дүүжин (düüžin) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Mongolian: ᠳᠡᠭᠦᠵᠢᠩ (degüǰing) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Norwegian Bokmål: pendel — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Persian: آونگ (âvang) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Persian: پاندول (pândul) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Persian: رقاصک (raqqâsak) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Polish: wahadło — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Portuguese: pêndulo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Romanian: pendul — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Russian: ма́ятник (májatnik) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Serbo-Croatian: кла́тно — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Serbo-Croatian: klátno — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Slovak: kyvadlo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Slovene: nihalo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Spanish: péndulo — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Swedish: pendel — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Tajik: раққосак (raqqosak) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Tajik: ованг (ovang) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Thai: ลูกตุ้ม (lûuk-dtûm) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Turkish: sarkaç — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Turkish: rakkas — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Turkish: pandül — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Ottoman Turkish: رقاص (rakkas) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Turkmen: maýatnik — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Ukrainian: ма́ятник (májatnyk) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Ukrainian: вага́дло (vahádlo) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Uyghur: ماياتنىك (mayatnik) — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Uzbek: mayatnik — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Vietnamese: quả lắc — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Vietnamese: con lắc — body suspended from a fixed support
  • Volapük: pendül — body suspended from a fixed support
Real reading context

pendulum in complete knowledge articles