Pendant

A pendant (from Old French) is a hanging object, generally attached to a necklace or an earring. The use of pendants has several purposes; ornamentation is only one of them; pendants are also used for identification (i.e. religious symbols, sexual symbols, symbols of rock bands), protection (i.e. amulets, religious symbols), self-affirmation (i.e. initials, names), ostentation (i.e. jewels). Of course these purposes can be combined (i.e. a richly jewelled symbol).