favor - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English favour, favor, faver, from Anglo-Norman favour, from mainland Old French favor, from Latin favor (“good will; kindness; partiality”), from faveō (“to be kind to”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂weh₁yeti (“to be favourable to”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine, glow light”). Respelled in American English to more closely match its Latin etymon. Compare also Danish favør (“favor”), Irish fabhar (“favor”), from the same Romance source.

favor (countable and uncountable, plural favors) (American spelling, alternative in Canada, historically in Lancashire)

  1. A kind or helpful deed; an instance of voluntarily assisting (someone).
    Synonym: service
    He did me a favor when he took the time to drive me home.
  2. Goodwill; benevolent regard.
    She enjoyed the queen's favor.
    to fall out of favor
  3. A small gift; a party favor.
    wedding favor
    At the holiday dinner, the hosts had set a favor by each place setting.
    A marriage favour is a bunch or knot of white ribbons or white flowers worn at a wedding.
  4. Mildness or mitigation of punishment; lenity.
  5. The object of regard; person or thing favoured.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      All these his wondrous works, but chiefly man, / His chief delight and favour.
  6. (obsolete) Appearance; look; countenance; face.
  7. (law) Partiality; bias[1]
  8. (archaic) A letter, a written communication.
  9. (archaic, chiefly Northern England) A resemblance, likeness.
  10. (obsolete) Anything worn publicly as a pledge of a woman's favor.
  1. (historical) A ribbon or similar small item that is worn as an adornment, especially in celebration of an event.

kind or helpful deed

goodwill; benevolent regard

small gift

mildness or mitigation of punishment

object of regard; person or thing favoured

Translations to be checked

favor (third-person singular simple present favors, present participle favoring, simple past and past participle favored) (US, alternative in Canada, transitive)

  1. To look upon fondly; to prefer.
  2. To use more often.
    • 2007, Bert Casper, Shadow Upon the Dream: Book 1: Barrûn, page 537:
      […] alone, without having to favor his right, uninjured leg, […]
  3. To encourage, conduce to
    • 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)‎[1]:
      These [boys being groomed as prostitutes] are sold by their parents (sometimes stolen from them), about the age of 4, and educated, while they are also subjected to a special physical training, which includes massage of the gluteal regions to favor development, dilatation of the anus, and epilation (which is not, however, practised by Chinese women).
  4. To do a favor [noun sense 1] for; to show beneficence toward.
    Would you favor us with a poetry reading?
  5. (in dialects, including Southern US and Cajun) To resemble; especially, to look like (another person).
    • 1896, Rudyard Kipling, The Mary Gloster:
      I thought—it doesn't matter—you seemed to favour your ma,
    • 1915, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island:
      You’re complected like your pa. He had red hair. But you favor your ma in your eyes and mouth.
    • 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:
      ‘Mandy?’ he said, and stared at the girl. ‘Don't favor her too much.’ ‘Favors her dad,’ Latha said, and looked at him.
    • 1989, Rayford Clayton Reddell, Robert Galyean, Growing Fragrant Plants, page 13:
      […] chamomile and apples? Those particular smellalikes tested our imagination. Yet much of what he said was right on the mark. The scent of sweet peas, for instance, does indeed favor that of wisteria.
    • 2012, Rick Bass, A Thousand Deer: Four Generations of Hunting and the Hill Country, →ISBN, page 63:
      The way things repeat themselves, across time — not just in the replications and recombinations of family and place ("He favors his momma, she favors her daddy"), but in the accretion of like patterns […]
  6. To treat or use (something) gently
    I always try to favor my bad knee.

to look upon fondly; to prefer

  1. ^ John Bouvier (1839), “FAVOR”, in A Law Dictionary, […], volumes I (A–K), Philadelphia, Pa.: T. & J. W. Johnson, […], successors to Nicklin & Johnson, […], →OCLC.

From Latin favōrem. First attested in the 14th century.[1]

favor m or (archaic, regional or poetic) f (plural favors)

  1. favour
  1. ^ “favor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Inherited from Spanish favor (“favor”).

favor

  1. favor

From Portuguese favor.

favor

  1. favour
  2. pleasure

Proto-Indo-European *-ōs

Proto-Italic *-ōs

Latin favor

From faveō (“to be well disposed or inclined toward, favor, countenance, befriend”) + -or.

favor m (genitive favōris); third declension

  1. good will, inclination, partiality, favor
    Synonym: beneficium
    Antonyms: maleficium, iniūria, dētrīmentum, noxa, calamitās
  2. support

Third-declension noun.

favor

  1. alternative form of favour

From Old Norse faðir (“father”) + vár (“our”), from Proto-Germanic *fadēr + *unseraz, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr. Compare Shetlandic fy vor.

favor

  1. (Orkney) our father

From Latin favor.

favor f (plural favors)

  1. favor

From Latin favor (“favour; good will”), from faveō (“to favour”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰoweh₁ (“to notice”).

favor m (plural favores)

  1. favor (instance of voluntarily assisting someone)
  2. favor; goodwill (benevolent regard)
    Synonyms: (obsolete) favorança, graça, mercê

favor (not comparable)

  1. (before a verb in the infinitive) please (seen on warnings and the like)
    Favor não pisar na grama.
    Please don't step on the grass.

favor n (plural favoruri)

  1. alternative form of favoare

Borrowed from Latin favōrem.

favor m (plural favores)

  1. favor/favour
    Hazme un favor.
    Do me a favour.
    Se trata de un uso en retroceso en favor de las formas de tuteo "cantarás", "comerás", "vivirás".
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    [3]

Compare Italian favore

favor m (plural favuri)

  1. favour