propensity

Etymology

It is formed from English propense + -ity,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the adjective propense meaning inclined or prone, recorded from 1528 and now archaic.^[3][7][8] The OED instead takes the noun from Latin prōpēns-, the past participial stem of prōpendeō (“to hang forward, incline”), with the suffix -ity, and compares New Latin propensitas, used by Erasmus before 1536, and Italian propensità (“favour”);^[8] Barnhart allows that it was in some cases formed as if from such a Latin noun.^[3] Propense is from Latin prōpēnsus (“weighed down, inclined, disposed”), the past participle of prōpendeō,^[8][5][9] which is formed from prō- (“forward”) and pendeō (“to hang; to weigh”).^[5][6][10] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *(s)pen- (“to draw, stretch, spin”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A favourable inclination towards a person or party; partiality or goodwill: 1550, in Richard Sherry's Treatise of Schemes and Tropes.^[8] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1550,^[7] and Etymonline dates this sense, "disposition to favor", to the 1560s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, partiality towards someone, is now rare;^[8] Collins marks it obsolete.^[11] From 1601 the word meant a predisposition to a particular action, habit or quality,^[8] which Etymonline dates to the 1610s as "a bent of mind, natural or acquired".^[5] From before 1623 it was also used of a liability to some physical condition.^[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as an inclination or disposition to anything good or bad.^[12] Two rare senses did not last: a tendency to move in a particular direction (1642), and, in printing, an overhanging part (1755).^[8]

Timeline

• 1528 – propense, inclined or disposed.^[8][7][3]
• 1550 – favourable inclination towards a person; partiality.^[8][7]
• 1601 – a predisposition to an action, habit or quality.^[8] Etymonline dates the sense to the 1610s.^[5]
• before 1623 – a tendency to some physical condition or action.^[8]
• 1642 – a tendency to move in a particular direction (now obsolete).^[8]
• 1755 – an overhanging part, in printing (now obsolete).^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A natural tendency or inclination to behave in a particular way: The puppy has a propensity for chewing shoes.^{[11][7][4][8]}
2. (now rare) Favourable inclination towards a person or cause; partiality.^[8][4][11]

Related words

• propense
• propend
• pend
• pendant
• pendulum

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.