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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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.
Ding won over “Jeopardy!” fans with quirky charisma and a penchant for wearing his favorite color, orange.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026
Altman's unassuming, friendly demeanor contrasted sharply with Musk's abrasive style, but they shared an entrepreneurial spirit and a penchant for risk-taking.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
And by pivoting away from cinema’s recent penchant for celebrity commentary to face the stripped-down human truth, “Mother Mary” is a reinvention fit for a superstar.
From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026
Daisy, whose backstory includes, in the first episode, a brief glimpse of Elisabeth Moss’ June, certainly upsets things, most often by reacting to Gilead’s penchant for public atrocities the way a non-sociopath outsider would.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026
Once, the city had a number of spiritualists, real and pretend, but the capital had lost its penchant for séances and the paranormal.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
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.
