The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Penchant \Pen`chant"\, n. [F., fr. pencher to bend, fr.
   (assumed) LL. pendicare, L. pendere. See Pendant.]
   Inclination; decided taste; bias; as, a penchant for art.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Penchant \Pen`chant"\, n. (Card Playing)
   A game like b['e]zique, or, in the game, any queen and jack
   of different suits held together.
   [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

penchant
    n 1: a strong liking; "my own preference is for good
         literature"; "the Irish have a penchant for blarney" [syn:
         preference, penchant, predilection, taste]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

47 Moby Thesaurus words for "penchant":
   a thing for, affinity, aptitude, aptness, bent, bias, cast,
   conatus, conduciveness, delight, diathesis, disposition, eagerness,
   fancy, fascination, favor, feeling for, fondness, inclination,
   inclining, leaning, liability, liking, mutual affinity,
   mutual attraction, partiality, predilection, predisposition,
   preference, prejudice, probability, proclivity, proneness,
   propensity, readiness, sensitivity to, soft spot, susceptibility,
   sympathy, taste, tendency, tropism, turn, twist, warp, weakness,
   willingness