Word of the Day Archive
Sunday June 9, 2002
penchant \PEN-chunt\
, noun:
Inclination; decided taste; a strong liking.
Ben was a dreamy little boy, recalls Hiddy, who always thought her brother's penchant for reveries might lead him to become an artist or a great philosopher.
-- Thomas Maier, Dr. Spock: An American Life
Field, in his personal comportment, maintained a penchant for austerity, a contempt for frivolity, and a "steely cold" disdain for any decision not based on fundamental business principles.
-- Roland Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul
Even as an adolescent bookkeeper in a trading house in Cleveland, Rockefeller minutely recorded his charitable donations in ledgers, which confirm that from an early age he had a penchant for giving money no less than for making it.
-- Ron Chernow, "Mystery of the Generous Monopolist", New York Times, November 18, 1998
Penchant comes from the present participle of French pencher, "to incline, to bend," from (assumed) Late Latin pendicare, "to lean," from Latin pendere, "to weigh."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for penchant
