Pension

How to spell pension

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce pension

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pension mean?

1. nounA regular payment made to a person who has retired from work, or who is supported because of age or service.

Pension in a sentence

• After forty years at the factory he finally drew his pension.

• She pays into a private pension every month to fund her retirement.

Where does pension come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Pension comes from the Latin pensio, meaning a payment or an installment, which was itself drawn from the verb pendere, 'to weigh out' or 'to pay'. In the ancient world money was literally weighed, so 'weighing out' and 'paying out' were the same act, and that is why the spelling keeps the s of pensum, the past participle of pendere. The word travelled into English through Old French during the 1300s, at first meaning any regular payment or rent. Over time it narrowed to mean a fixed sum paid regularly to someone who has retired or given long service. The same pendere root survives in relatives like 'pendant', 'suspend', and 'pendulum', all carrying the idea of hanging or weighing, which is a useful reminder that pension is spelled with that s, not a c.

How the word is built

• pens- (from Latin pendere/pensum: to weigh out, to pay)
• -ion (noun suffix: act or result of)