penchant
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of penchant
1665–75; < French, noun use of present participle of pencher to incline, lean < Vulgar Latin *pendicāre, derivative of Latin pendēre to hang
Explanation
A penchant is a strong preference or tendency. If you have a penchant for pizza, you either eat it daily or wish you did. Penchant borrows from French, in which penchant literally means inclined. It goes back to the Latin pendere, for hanging, which is also the source of pendant. In both French and English, speakers have long used the idea of inclination metaphorically: a hillside can be inclined in one direction or another, and so can a person's thoughts. But in English, penchant is only for desires.
Vocabulary lists containing penchant
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Scythe
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
De Palma may be best known for his stylistic trademarks and penchant for perversion, but he’s also one of American cinema’s great realists.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
Pochettino’s faith in the power of fruit and candles and his penchant for penning aphorisms hasn’t taken away from the ferociousness of his approach to soccer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
“We said, ‘Wait, what?’ ” says Brannin McBee, a CoreWeave co-founder who was familiar with Jane Street’s penchant for secrecy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
Hyperscalers—or large-scale data-center operators—have shown a penchant for longer-dated debt.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
“Do they have a penchant for the work?”
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
