Ascendant
From Hull AWE
Ascendant, with '-a-' in the final syllable, is now virtually the only spelling of this word, as are the forms ascendancy and the rarer ascendance of theirs.
- The forms 'ascendent', 'ascendence' and 'ascendency' were formerly common, and normal in the subject of astrology where the specific meaning was "The point of the ecliptic, or degree of the zodiac, which at any moment (esp. e.g. at the birth of a child) is just rising above the eastern horizon" (OED, 1885); in the scientific study of astronomy 'just above the eastern horizon'.
- The forms 'ascendent', 'ascendence' and 'ascendency' were formerly common, and normal in the subject of astrology where the specific meaning was "The point of the ecliptic, or degree of the zodiac, which at any moment (esp. e.g. at the birth of a child) is just rising above the eastern horizon" (OED, 1885); in the scientific study of astronomy 'just above the eastern horizon'.