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
Origin:
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."
\PEN-chunt\ , noun;