fondness

noun

Etymology: From Middle English fondnes, fondnesse, fonnednesse, equivalent to fond + -ness.

1. The quality of being fond: liking something, foolishness; doting affection; propensity.

   “I stopped taking the sweets and condiments I had got from home. The mind having taken a different turn, the fondness for condiments wore away, and I now relished the boiled spinach which in Richmond tasted insipid, cooked without condiments. Many such experiments taught me that the real seat of taste was not the tongue but the mind.”

   “Britain's contribution to railway film history has been very great and can be almost entirely laid at the door of that very fine producer Sir Michael Balcon, who I suspect has a secret fondness for trains himself, so many railway pictures has he caused to be made.”