'incline' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'inclinare', where 'in-' meant 'toward' and 'clinare' meant 'to lean or bend'.

'incline' changed from Old French or Anglo-Norman forms (e.g. Old French 'incliner') and Middle English 'inclinen' and eventually became the modern English word 'incline'.

Initially, it meant 'to bend or lean'; over time it evolved to include the sense 'to be disposed or to tend toward' and related abstract senses such as 'a tendency or preference'.