favor

See also: favör and favør

Contents

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

• favour (Commonwealth, Ireland)

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English favour, favor, faver, from Anglo-Norman favour, from mainland Old French favor, from Latin favor ‎(“good will; kindness; partiality”), from favere ‎(“to be kind to”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰowe- ‎(“to honour, revere, worship”). Cognate with Old Norse gá ‎(“to heed, mark, pay attention”), Icelandic gá ‎(“to look, see, check”). Respelled in American English to more closely match its Latin etymon. Compare also Danish favør ‎(“favor”), Swedish favör ‎(“favor”), from the same Romance source.

PronunciationEdit

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪvə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪvɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: fa‧vor

NounEdit

favor ‎(plural favors) (US, alternative in Canada)

1. A kind or helpful deed; an instance of voluntarily assisting (someone).

   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

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. […] She looked around expectantly, and recognizing Mrs. Cooke's maid […] Miss Thorn greeted her with a smile which greatly prepossessed us in her favor.

3. A small gift; a party 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.

   • Shakespeare

     Wear thou this favour for me, and stick it in thy cap.

4. Mildness or mitigation of punishment; lenity.
   • Jonathan Swift

     I could not discover the lenity and favour of this sentence.

5. The object of regard; person or thing favoured.
   • Milton

     All these his wondrous works, but chiefly man, / His chief delight and favour.

6. (obsolete) Appearance; look; countenance; face.
   • Shakespeare

     This boy is fair, of female favour.

7. (law) Partiality; bias.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bouvier to this entry?)

8. (archaic) A letter, a written communication.

   Your favour of yesterday is received.

9. (obsolete, in the plural) Lovelocks.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

Usage notesEdit

• Favor is the standard US spelling, and an alternative in Canada. Favour is the standard spelling in Canada and outside North America.
• English speakers usually "do someone a favor" (rather than *"make them a favor", which would be sense 3 only). See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take for uses and meaning of favour collocated with these words.

Derived termsEdit

Derived terms

favorite in favor

in favor of party favor

AntonymsEdit

• disfavor
• discrimination

TranslationsEdit

deed in which help is voluntarily provided

• Arabic: معروف m
• Basque: mesede (eu), fabore (eu)
• Bulgarian: услуга (bg) f ‎(usluga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 恩惠 (zh) ‎(ēnhuì), 好意 (zh) ‎(hǎoyì), (see also) 幫忙 (zh), 帮忙 (zh) ‎(bāngmáng)

• Czech: laskavost (cs), pomoc (cs)
• Dutch: dienst (nl), gunst (nl)
• Esperanto: favoro
• Finnish: palvelus (fi)
• French: faveur (fr) f
• German: Gefallen (de) m, Gefälligkeit f
• Greek: χάρη (el) f ‎(chári)
• Hebrew: טובה (he) f ‎(tová)

• Italian: favore (it) m
• Japanese: 好意 ‎(kōi), ひいき (ja) ‎(hiiki), 優遇 ‎(yūgū), 寵愛 (ja) ‎(chōai)
• Korean: 도움 (ko) ‎(doum), 양보 (ko) ‎(yang-bo)
• Macedonian: услуга f ‎(usluga)
• Ngazidja Comorian: fadhwila
• Polish: przysługa (pl)
• Portuguese: favor (pt) m
• Romanian: favoare (ro) f
• Russian: услу́га (ru) f ‎(uslúga), одолже́ние (ru) n ‎(odolžénije), любе́зность (ru) f ‎(ljubéznostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: usluga (sh) f, molba (sh) f
• Slovene: usluga (sl) f
• Spanish: favor (es)
• Swedish: tjänst (sv) c
• Turkish: iyilik (tr)
• Vietnamese: ơn (vi)

goodwill; benevolent regard

• Czech: přízeň f
• Danish: god vilje
• Finnish: suosio
• German: Gunst (de) f, Gnade (de) f, Huld (de) f
• Greek: εύνοια (el) f ‎(évnoia)

• Japanese: 好意 ‎(kōi)
• Luxembourgish: Gonscht f
• Manx: foayr m
• Russian: расположе́ние (ru) n ‎(raspoložénije), благоскло́нность (ru) f ‎(blagosklónnostʹ), фаво́р (ru) m ‎(favór)

small gift

• Czech: pozornost (cs) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} favoro

VerbEdit

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

1. (transitive) To look upon fondly; to prefer.
   • And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. —Luke 1:28, King James version, 1611
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess^[1]:

     Even in an era when individuality in dress is a cult, his clothes were noticeable. He was wearing a hard hat of the low round kind favoured by hunting men, and with it a black duffle-coat lined with white.

2. (transitive) To do a favor [noun sense 1] for; to show beneficence toward.

   Would you favor us with a poetry reading?‎

3. (transitive) To treat with care.

   Favoring your sore leg will only injure the other one.‎

4. (transitive, in dialects, including Southern US and Louisiana) To resemble, to look like (another person).
   • 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.

   • 2012, Rick Bass, A Thousand Deer: Four Generations of Hunting and the Hill Country (ISBN 0292743602), 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 […]

Derived termsEdit

Derived terms

favorable/favourable favored/favoured

favorite/favourite favoritism/favouritism

AntonymsEdit

• disfavor
• discriminate

TranslationsEdit

to look upon fondly; to prefer

• Afrikaans: guns
• Arabic: أَنْعَمَ ‎(ʾanʿama)
• Czech: upřednostňovat, dávat přednost, favorizovat, zvýhodňovat
• Esperanto: favorigi
• Finnish: suosia (fi)
• French: favoriser (fr)
• German: begünstigen (de)

• Greek: ευνοώ (el) ‎(evnoó)
• Irish: fabhraigh
• Japanese: かわいがる (ja) ‎(kawaigaru), 寵愛する (ja) ‎(choai suru)
• Latin: addīcō
• Maori: takahoa (towards a person), popore
• Portuguese: favorecer (pt)
• Russian: благоволи́ть (ru) ‎(blagovolítʹ)
• Spanish: preferir (es), favorecer (es)

to do a favor (noun sense 1) for; to show beneficence toward

• Finnish: tehdä palvelus

• Swedish: Tjänst n

to treat with care

• Japanese: ひいきする (ja) ‎(hiiki), 優遇する ‎(yūgū suru), 寵愛する (ja) ‎(chōai suru)

• Maori: popore

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} favori

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CatalanEdit

NounEdit

favor m, f ‎(plural favors)

1. favour

Derived termsEdit

• a favor de
• en favor de
• per favor

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LatinEdit

EtymologyEdit

From faveō ‎(“I am well disposed or inclined toward, favor, countentance, befriend”).

PronunciationEdit

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.wor/, [ˈfa.wɔr]

NounEdit

favor m ‎(genitive favōris); third declension

1. good will, inclination, partiality, favor
2. support

InflectionEdit

Third declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	favor	favōrēs
genitive	favōris	favōrum
dative	favōrī	favōribus
accusative	favōrem	favōrēs
ablative	favōre	favōribus
vocative	favor	favōrēs

DescendantsEdit

• English: favor
• French: faveur
• Danish: favør
• Italian: favore

• Portuguese: favor
• Romanian: favoare
• Russian: фавор ‎(favor)
• Spanish: favor

ReferencesEdit

• favor in Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• favor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• FAVOR in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• favor in Félix Gaffiot (1934), Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be favoured by Fortune; to bask in Fortune's smiles: fortunae favore or prospero flatu fortunae uti (vid. sect. VI. 8., note uti...)
    
  • to find favour with some one; to get into their good graces: benevolentiam, favorem, voluntatem alicuius sibi conciliare or colligere (ex aliqua re)
    
  • popular favour; popularity: aura favoris popularis (Liv. 22. 26)
    
  • popular favour; popularity: populi favor, gratia popularis
    
• favor in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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PortugueseEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɐˈvoɾ/
• Hyphenation: fa‧vor

NounEdit

favor m (plural favores)

1. favour (instance of voluntarily assisting someone)
2. favour; goodwill (benevolent regard)

SynonymsEdit

• (goodwill): favorança (obsolete), graça, mercê

Derived termsEdit

• a favor de
• em favor de
• fazer o favor de
• por favor

Related termsEdit

favorança favorável favoravelmente favorecedor

favorecer favorecido favorecimento favorita

favoritismo favorito favorizador favorizar

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SpanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin favor, favoris.

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /faˈβor/
• Hyphenation: fa‧vor

NounEdit

favor m ‎(plural favores)

1. favor

Derived termsEdit

• por favor
• favor de

Related termsEdit

• favorable
• favorecer
• favoritismo
• favorito

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VenetianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Compare Italian favore

NounEdit

favor m (plural favuri)

1. favour