What is the difference between a necklace, choker, pendant and chain?

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Mar 20, 2019

What is the difference between a necklace, choker, pendant and a chain? All of these can be used to describe jewelry around someone’s neck. Because we want to be sophisticated and know our terminology, we need to be able to separate a necklace from a pendant. In this article, we will discover all the answers and clearly explain why all of these terms don’t mean the same thing with descriptive pictures.
First, we are going the cover what the term means and what they are used for. At the end of the article, you will find a comparison between the terms. Finally, the article will conclude everything in a neat summary that can be found from the bottom of this page. Let’s get started!

What is a necklace?

A necklace is a type of jewelry that is worn around the neck. Anything with even the slightest resemblance to a piece of string, rope, chain or lace that a human or an animal wears around their neck can be called a necklace. Necklaces come with a large variety of types, styles, and looks. A plain metal chain worn around the neck can be called a necklace. The same metal chain decorated with beads, pearls, diamonds, or crystals is also considered a necklace. Add a pendant, cross or similar to the natural stone in the above picture, hanging from the chain and the complete package is commonly called a necklace. 

A common mistake is to call an article hanging from the necklace a necklace. Moreover, this is only a part of the total jewelry set called the pendant. A necklace is a whole set or totality, that is worn around the neck including the lace around the neck and any pendants and symbols hanging from it.

So, what are necklaces used for? A good informational rule of thumb is that necklaces are used for enhancing the overall look of any style. Since there are so many different types of necklaces, there is a good chance that the outfit you are currently wearing could benefit from a necklace. If you are looking for a necklace that would look good on you and make your appearance more attractive, take a look at our affordable and beautiful collection of necklaces. It’s always important to make sure your necklace suits you and actually adds something to your style. This is why you should always buy the necklaces that you like, instead of getting the necklaces you think you need but really don’t. The later is the main reason why so many of the best necklaces spend most of their days collecting dust at the bottom of the cabinet.

What is a choker?

A choker is a type, or a style, of a necklace that is skin-tight. Unlike your average necklace, a choker doesn’t “hang” loose on your upper chest area. As seen in the picture above, a choker wraps around the neck along the skin. Some chokers, like the one above, leave a little breathing room and some hug the neck with a very firm grip. Regardless of how loose or tight a necklace is, as long as its shape from the front looks like a half circle on your neck rather than a U or V shape, it is a choker. Although pendants with chokers are normal, most chokers only come with the chain and don’t include a pendant. Hopefully, after this explanation, you have a clear vision of what is a choker and you are able to tell the difference between a regular necklace and a choker.

In the 21st century women and chokers together are not an uncommon sight. Chokers come in a variety of styles. Just as any other type of necklace can have different forms, chokers have them too. Ranging from metallic designs made from steel, silver, and gold to fabric chokers and multilayer chokers. A few years back, when chokers were popularized by social media, the standard choker consisted of black fabric. Today, you might see some chokers have crystals or mixed materials such as leather and metal to combine unique looks.

What is a choker used for? Most outfits, casual, smart-casual, and formal can implement the benefit of chokers. Metallic choker designs are more often used with outfits on the formal side. Fabric and leather-based chokers are usually worn with casual outfits. With smart-casual outfits, if you want to play it safe maybe go for a more metallic toned choker but leather and fabric are okay, too. If you don’t yet own one, go check out our affordable collection to get started with a classy choker.

What is a pendant?

A pendant is best described as the item or an article that is hanging from the chain of the necklace. A pendant can have any shape or form. As long as it is, or can be, attached to a chain that can be worn it is called a pendant. In the above picture, you can see two pendants. On the left the pendant is the violet crystal stone, on the right, the pendant is the silver half moon. You can see a pendant hanging from a necklace, bracelet, anklet or just about any other type of jewelry. Although one pendant per jewelry chain is the most common style, any piece of jewelry can have one, two or multiple pendants.

When shopping online, it is fairly easy to find a lot of different kinds of pendants. You can even shop pendants separately to find a cute matching pendant for your favorite chain at home. However, most stores sell pendants together with a chain in a complete necklace package. This makes it easy to take it to use when you receive your new pendant necklace. If you are looking for affordable pendant necklaces, feel free to check out our selection.

What are pendants used for? Most of the time pendants give more meaning to the necklace. For example, a man can buy a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant as a gift for his girlfriend. Different variants of heart pendants combined with a delicate chain are an extremely common anniversary and birthday gift idea. Pendants can also be that one unique detail on a necklace that draws the eye. Some women say pendant necklaces are perfect for dates because they steer the man’s eye to the woman’s neck area, which is known for its sensual vibes and attractiveness. In other words, it makes the man unconsciously more attracted to you. A small detail can be a game changer.

What is a chain?

The chain means a specific type of a necklace that consists of any type of metal. A chain is the main part of a metallic necklace, referring to the ropelike part that swirls around the neck. It usually has a lock or a clasp that enables the easy removal and attachment of the necklace. Most chains can have a pendant or multiple pendants attached to it. As seen in the image above, the girl wears a necklace that consists of multiple pendants and a dual chain. On the right, we can see a single chain with seven pendants.

Chains come in many different forms. Most common chains are solid gold and solid silver chains. These are soft metals and might break more easily than harder metals such as steel. For this exact reason, many people are starting to praise stainless steel chains with silver or gold coating. The steel chains are more affordable and, in heavy use, can outlast any soft metal chain in durability without cutting back on the looks. All of this with a substantially cheaper price is a win-win situation for many women. Despite the rising interest in stainless steel chains, gold and silver chains are not going anywhere in the near future.

What are chains used for? Chains are an essential part of metallic, not only necklaces but, jewelry as well. As you might know by now, jewelry, in general, has internalized the use of chains all around the world. Bracelets, anklets, necklaces, handbags, and even earrings use chains to dramatically improve both qualitative, and visual elements of the jewelry. As a matter of fact, almost every jewelry brand in the world relies on the enhancing effects of chains.

Necklace vs Choker vs Pendant vs Chain

Now that you have read through the individual explanations for necklaces, chokers, pendants, and chains, you are ready to compare them and the differences between them. Since all of the words are used to describe either the full set of the neck-area jewelry or a specific part of that jewelry set, the task of comparison proves to be fairly difficult. As you now know, a necklace describes the full set or a combination of jewelry on the neck, including a chain with pendant, a choker with pendant, or a single chain wrapping two or more rounds around the neck. If you are looking for more historical information about necklaces and the specific parts of a necklace, such as a pendant or a chain, you should buy one affordable necklace with one or more pendants. This way you will be able to investigate the item live with the physical item on your hand. To make sure you get the best price on your necklace, check out our collection of affordable necklaces. We at CWC offer every item with exceptional quality and free worldwide shipping.

The difference between a necklace, choker, pendant, and chain is very small but obvious. Here is a quick formula that will clarify the contrast between different parts of a necklace:

Necklace = Choker or Chain + Pendant

Summary

Necklace, the most commonly used term out of all, describes the jewelry worn around the neck. The choker is a skin-tight version of a necklace. A pendant is an item hanging from the necklace. A chain is a type of a necklace that consists of a durable metal such as steel, gold or silver.

Thank you for reading!

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