penchant
strong liking or tendency
Root
- pend / pens: hang, weigh, lean, or be suspended
Other words with the pend / pens root
- compendium: a concise collection or summary
- depend: to rely on or hang from for support
- dispense: to distribute or give out
- indispensable: absolutely necessary; impossible to do without
- pending: not yet decided or settled
- pendulum: swinging weight hung from a fixed point
- pensive: quietly thoughtful, often with sadness
Penchant is a leaning of taste. The spelling shifted, but the old hang/lean image still helps.
She had a penchant for solving the hardest puzzle first.
Penchant is not a clean visible split. It is a good old-family link: a preference as a leaning. Picture taste tilting toward one thing again and again.