Favor

How to spell favor

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce favor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does favor mean?

1. nounA kind or helpful act done for someone, or approval and goodwill shown toward a person or thing.
2. verbTo prefer, support, or treat with special kindness.

Favor in a sentence

• noun

  She asked her brother for a small favor while she was travelling.

• verb

  The new tax rules clearly favor larger companies.

• noun

  He repaid the favor by helping them move house the next month.

• verb

  A fair referee should never favor one side over the other.

Where does favor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin noun favor, meaning 'goodwill, kindness, or support', which grew from the verb favere, literally 'to be well disposed toward' or 'to show kindness'. In Roman use it described the warm approval a crowd might give a performer or a politician, a sense of public goodwill that still survives today. English picked it up through Old French (where it appeared as favor and faveur) during the 1300s, first carrying the idea of approval and later the idea of a kind act done for someone. The same favere root sits behind relatives such as 'favourite', 'favourable', and even 'aficionado', which travelled through Spanish. The spelling 'favor' without the u is the American form, standardised by Noah Webster in the early 1800s when he trimmed the French-looking -our endings; British and Canadian writers kept the older 'favour', which is exactly why the trailing u is the spelling trap here.

How the word is built

• fav- (from Latin favere: to show kindness)
• -or (noun suffix)

British and American spelling

Favor is the American spelling. British English spells it favour.