Fave

How to spell fave

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce fave

What does fave mean?

1. nounAn informal word for a person or thing one likes best; a favourite.
2. adjectiveInformal for most preferred or best-liked.

Fave in a sentence

• noun

  This little corner cafe has always been my fave.

• adjective

  Saturday morning is my fave time to walk the dog.

• noun

  Of all the songs on the album, the slow one is a real fave.

• adjective

  He wore his fave jacket to the casual office party.

Where does fave come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a casual twentieth century clipping of 'favourite', the word for the person or thing one likes best. The longer original traces back through Old French to the Latin verb favere, which literally meant 'to be well disposed toward' or 'to show kindness to', the same root that gives us 'favour' and 'favourable'. 'Favourite' itself arrived in English in the late 1500s by way of Italian favorito, meaning one who enjoys special goodwill. The chopped-down 'fave' grew out of informal speech and print in the mid 1900s, riding the same playful trend that produced 'comfy' and 'telly'. The spelling trap is the silent final -e, which writers add by analogy with 'gave' and 'save' even though the source word never ended that way.

How the word is built

• clipped form of 'favourite/favorite' (from Latin favere: to show kindness toward)
• the slang shortening keeps fav- and adds the silent -e