Filipendulous Fi Li Pen Juh Luhs Pen Dyoo Adjective Hanging Thread Latin Filum

adjective

Hanging by a thread.

[From Latin filum (thread) + pendere (to hang). Ultimately from the Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to spin), which is also the source of pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant, ponder, appendix, penthouse, depend, and spontaneous. Earliest documented use: 1864.]

"A group of filipendulous constructions that evoke Brobdingnagian hornets' nests."

The New Yorker; Sep 25, 1989.