preference (n.)

mid-15c., preferraunce, "advancement in position or status;" 1650s as "act of prefering," from Old French preference (14c., Modern French préférence), from Medieval Latin preferentia, from past-participle stem of Latin praeferrere "place or set before, carry in front" (see prefer). Sense of "that which one prefers, the object of choice" is from 1852.