English
favourite
Favourite comes from Middle French favorit, possibly via Old French, from Italian favorito ‘favoured’, from Latin favor ‘good will’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaveō‘to favour’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavor‘good will, favor’
- Italianc. 1300–presentfavore
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentfavorire‘to favor’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentfavorito‘favoured, favourite’past participle of favorire
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400favorituncertain
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600favorit
- Englishearliest quotation 1701favourite
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaveō‘to favour’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavor‘good will, favor’
- Italianc. 1300–presentfavore
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentfavorire‘to favor’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentfavorito‘favoured, favourite’past participle of favorire
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400favorituncertain
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600favorit
- Englishearliest quotation 1701favourite
Earliest quotation: 1701, George Farquhar: “the Favourites hang loose upon the Temples with a…”
The story
Attested from the 1580s, borrowed from Middle French favorit, from Old French favorit or Italian favorito (‘favoured, favourite’), past participle of Italian favorire (‘to favor’), from favore, from Latin favor (‘good will, favor’), from the verb faveō (‘to favour’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂weh₁yeti (‘to be favourable to’), from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (‘to shine, glow light’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’
phone, focus, professor, fuel, ben, phase, ban, famous, fantasy, photographer, emphasis, fancy, phenomenon, profession, fame, bee, abandon, fate, fatal, confession, fairy, confess, infant, phantom, symphony, fabulous, beacon, beck, boon, eff, bane, prophetic, epiphany, fab, foyer, banish, fay, buoy, fable, profess, 128 more
through Latin faveō ‘to favour’
through Latin favor ‘good will, favor’
Today it means
adj Most-liked. (In other words, [person]'s favorite [noun] = the [noun] that [person] likes the most.)
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin faveō / favourite