Etymograph

English

impend

Impend comes from Latin impendeō ‘to hang over, to weigh out’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- ‘to stretch’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pend-1‘to stretch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pn̥d-éh₁ye-ti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pendējō1reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pendēō1‘to hang, to be hanging’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpendeō1‘to be suspended, hang’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpendeō2as impendere‘to hang over, to weigh out’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1789impend2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin impendeo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English impend
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, John Moore, Zeluco: “The Earl had often heard of a rich citizen…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pend-Wiktionary, Latin impendeo‘to stretch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pn̥d-éh₁ye-tiWiktionary, Latin impendeoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pendējōWiktionary, Latin impendeoreconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pendēōWiktionary, Latin impendeo‘to hang, to be hanging’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpendeōWiktionary, Latin impendeo‘to be suspended, hang’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpendeōWiktionary, English impendas impendere‘to hang over, to weigh out’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1789impendWiktionary, English impend. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, John Moore, Zeluco: “The Earl had often heard of a rich citizen…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- ‘to stretch’

expensive, spend, span, pound, compensation, expense, pension, compensate, expenditure, poise, penthouse, appendix, perpendicular, pendant, pansy, peso, dispensation, compendium, piso, pensive, expend, recompense, append, 17 more

through Latin pendeō ‘to be suspended, hang’

depend, pendulum, pendulous, 2 more

Today it means

verb To hang or be suspended over (something); to overhang.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “impend”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin impendeo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- / impend

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