Standard Lemma guide

penchant

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈpɒnʃɒn/
  • UK: /ˈpɛnt͡ʃənt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈpɛnt͡ʃənt/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒnʃɒn
  • rhymes with -ɛntʃənt
  • CMU ARPABET: P EH1 N CH AH0 N T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Taste, liking, or inclination (for).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • He has a penchant for fine wine.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A card game resembling bezique.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: card-games, games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

In the game of penchant, any queen and jack of different suits held at the same time.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: card-games, games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a strong liking

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • my own preference is for good literature
  • the Irish have a penchant for blarney

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: preference, predilection, taste

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: liking

Narrower terms: acquired taste, weakness

History

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French penchant, present participle of pencher (“to tilt, to lean”), from Middle French, from Old French pengier (“to tilt, be out of line”), from Vulgar Latin *pendicāre, a derivative of Latin pendere (“to hang”).

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: склонност (sklonnost) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Bulgarian: предразположение (predrazpoloženie) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Chinese Mandarin: 愛好 /爱好 (àihào) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Chinese Mandarin: 傾向 /倾向 (qīngxiàng) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Czech: vášeň — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Dutch: neiging — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Dutch: voorkeur — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Finnish: mieltymys — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • French: penchant — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Georgian: მიდრეკილება (midreḳileba) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Georgian: მისწრაფება (misc̣rapeba) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • German: Vorliebe — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • German: Hang — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • German: Neigung — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Italian: inclinazione — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Italian: apprezzamento — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Japanese: 傾向 (keikō) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Norwegian: forkjærlighet — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Persian: عاشق چیزی بودن — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Persian: عشقِ چیزی بودن — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Polish: skłonność — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Polish: smykałka — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Portuguese: inclinação — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Portuguese: predisposição — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Russian: скло́нность (sklónnostʹ) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Russian: предпочте́ние (predpočténije) — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Spanish: afición — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Spanish: enza — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Spanish: querencia — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Swedish: böjelse — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Swedish: förkärlek — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Swedish: försmak — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Welsh: gogwydd — taste, liking, or inclination (for)
  • Welsh: tuedd — taste, liking, or inclination (for)