Liking prophecy about the French (12)
I believe the answer is:
predilection
'liking' is the definition.
(I know that predilection is a type of liking)
'prophecy about the french' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'about' could be 're' ('re' means regarding or about) and 're' is present in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for predilection that I've seen before include "Penchant" , "Preference (for something)" , "Fondness" , "Fancy" , "Bias" .)