An archaic or variant spelling of dependency; a territory or region under the control of another country.
From depend plus -ancy (from Latin -antia, forming nouns). This spelling variant emerged in the 1600s alongside 'dependency,' with -ancy being a less common suffix pattern in English.
'Dependancy' is basically obsolete now, replaced by 'dependency,' but historical documents about colonial empires still use it—you'll see references to 'British dependancies' in 18th-century texts, showing how language shifts over centuries.
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