Where does “penchant” come from?
Penchant derives from French penchant, from French pencher, from Latin pendicare, from Latin pendere meaning to hang or weigh, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European (s)pend-.
penchant (English): Taste, liking, or inclination; A card game...
Definitions
- Taste, liking, or inclination; A card game...
Ancestry of “penchant”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | penchant | penchant; present participle of pencher |
| 2 | French | pencher | to tilt, tip up |
| 3 | Old French | pengier | to tilt, be out of line |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | pendicare | present active infinitive of *pendicō |
| 5 | Latin | pendēre | — |
| 6 | Latin | pendō | to weigh, weigh out |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | pendō | hang, put in a hanging position |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)péndeti | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)pend- | to stretch |