propensity
/pɹəˈpɛnsɪti/noun
propensity is spelled P-R-O-P-E-N-S-I-T-Y: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,536th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, propensity means “An inclination, disposition, tendency, preference, or attraction” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of propensity is propensities.
How many letters and syllables are in propensity?
| Letters | 10: P-R-O-P-E-N-S-I-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 23,536th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is propensity?
Propensity appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,536th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce propensity?
- /pɹəˈpɛnsɪti/
Propensity has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-propensity.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of propensity
- propensities plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does propensity mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An inclination, disposition, tendency, preference, or attraction.
He has a propensity for lengthy discussions of certain favorite topics.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Propensity in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense tendency:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | propension, tendance |
| German | Neigung, Tendenz |
| Portuguese | propensão, tendência, inclinação, predisposição, predileção |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does propensity come from?
Learned borrowing from New Latin prōpensitās. By surface analysis, propense (“inclined, disposed”) + -ity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).