What does appended mean?
Appended is the past tense and past participle of the verb append, which means to attach or add something to the end of an existing document, text, list, or file. The word carries a formal, precise tone and appears frequently in legal, academic, and professional writing — for example, when a signature, appendix, supporting document, or explanatory note is added after the main body of a text. In computing, appending has a distinct technical meaning: adding new data to the end of a file or data structure without altering or deleting what already exists, as opposed to overwriting it. Derived from the Latin verb appendere, meaning 'to hang upon,' the word preserves that original image of one thing hanging from or attached to another. Understanding appended helps readers interpret documents correctly, since appended material is understood to be supplementary rather than integral to the main content.
verb (past participle / past tense of append)Appended is the past tense and past participle of the verb append, meaning to attach or add something to the end of a document, text, list, or other body of material.
- To have attached or added something at the end of a document, message, or list.
- (Computing) To have added data to the end of an existing file, string, or array.
"The lawyer appended a signed copy of the contract to the email."
"She appended a detailed bibliography to the end of her thesis."
"The program appended each new log entry to the end of the file."
The word 'append' comes from Latin 'appendere' — literally 'to hang upon' — so every time you append a file, you're linguistically hanging it off the end of another.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of appended
Appended derives from the Latin verb appendere, meaning 'to hang upon' or 'to weigh out', formed from ad- ('to, toward') plus pendere ('to hang'). The word entered English in the late medieval period via Old French and Latin scholarly usage, with the verb append attested by the early modern era. It shares this root with related words such as pendant, pendent, impending, and appendage, all of which involve hanging or attachment.
Related word forms
How appended is actually used
Formal-to-neutral register; common in legal, academic, and technical writing. In computing contexts it typically refers to adding data to the end of a file or data structure rather than overwriting it.
Easily confused with appended
Amended means changed or corrected in place, whereas appended means something new was added at the end without altering what came before.