Etymologically
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suspension

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /səˈspɛnʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English suspensioun, borrowed from Latin suspēnsio (“a hanging up; a vaulting”),[2][3][4] partly through French,[5][6] from suspendere (“to hang up”) (see suspend), from sub- (“up from under”) and pendere (“to hang”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A temporary halting or deprivation, as of office or privilege: 1421 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Execution by hanging is an early 15th-century sense, and the literal action of hanging from above is from the 1540s.[3] The general sense, a stopping or condition of being stopped, is from about 1600, 1603 in the OED.[3][7] Keeping a decision or judgment in abeyance is from the 1560s,[3] and Coleridge's willing suspension of disbelief is from 1817.[3] A mixture in which fine particles float without dissolving is from 1707.[2][3] The suspension bridge is from 1819–21,[3][2] and the system of springs supporting a vehicle is a later sense.[8][9] In Scots law a suspension was a suit to stay a legal process.[10]

Timeline

  • 1421 – a temporary deprivation.[2]
  • 1560s – suspension of judgment.[3]
  • c. 1600 – a stopping.[3]
  • 1707 – particles in a liquid.[2]
  • 1817 – suspension of disbelief.[3]
  • 1819 – suspension bridge.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The temporary removal of someone from a job, team or school, as a punishment.
  2. A temporary stop or delay: suspension of talks.
  3. The system of springs and shock absorbers supporting a vehicle on its wheels.
  4. (chemistry) A mixture in which fine particles are dispersed in a liquid or gas without dissolving.
  5. The act of hanging something from above.

Word family

  • presuspension
  • resuspension
  • suspension bridge
  • suspension points
  • suspend
  • suspender
  • suspense
  • suspenser
  • suspensive
  • pendant
  • pending
  • depend

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)