Definition of PENCHANT

penchant

Plural: penchants

Noun

  • A strong inclination or liking for something.
  • a strong liking
    • "the Irish have a penchant for blarney"
  • Taste, liking, or inclination (for).
  • A card game resembling bezique.
  • In the game of penchant, any queen and jack of different suits held at the same time.

Examples

  • He has a penchant for fine wine.
  • She had a PENCHANT for playing obscure, high-scoring words in Words With Friends.

Origin / 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”).

Scrabble Score: 15

penchant: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
penchant: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
penchant: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 18

penchant: valid Words With Friends Word