English
favourable
Favourable comes from Latin favōrābilis ‘favored, popular’, and goes back to faveō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaveō‘to be well disposed or inclined toward, favor, countenance, befriend’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavor
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavōrābilis‘favored, popular’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400favorable
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500favourable‘benevolent, well-disposed’
- Englishearliest quotation 1850same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaveō‘to be well disposed or inclined toward, favor, countenance, befriend’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavor
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavōrābilis‘favored, popular’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400favorable
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500favourable‘benevolent, well-disposed’
- Englishearliest quotation 1850same form
Earliest quotation: 1850, [Alfred, Canto IX: “So draw him home to those that mourn In…”
Equivalent to favour + -able
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become’
be, been, power, present, future, possible, build, physical, improve, presence, essential, bond, bush, contribution, bound, absence, physician, entity, booth, approve, probability, absent, distribute, contributor, fiat, bun, retribution, attribution, bouquet, imp, rebuke, impotent, impossibility, bower, aren, beamer, bosque, phylogeny, physic, phylum, 84 more
through Latin favor
through Middle English favourable ‘benevolent, well-disposed’
Today it means
adj Apt to win favour; pleasing.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin faveō / favourable