Preferences

How to spell preferences

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce preferences

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does preferences mean?

1. nounThe things a person likes or chooses more than others; settings or options reflecting what someone favours.

Preferences in a sentence

• The form asks new staff to record their dietary preferences before the conference.

• You can adjust the privacy preferences in the account settings menu.

Where does preferences come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb praeferre, which literally meant 'to carry before' or 'to set in front', formed from prae 'before' and ferre 'to carry or bear'. The idea of placing one thing ahead of another naturally shifted into the sense of valuing or liking something more, and from this came the Latin notion of 'preferring'. English took the noun through Old French preference during the early 1600s, meaning the act of favouring one option above others. The same ferre root carries (so to speak) into many English words such as 'refer', 'transfer', and 'infer', all built on the idea of bearing or carrying. The spelling trap lives in the middle: a single 'r' in 'prefer' becomes the unstressed '-erence' here, so writers must resist the urge to double the 'r' as they do in 'preferred'.

How the word is built

• pre- (before)
• fer (carry/bear, from Latin ferre)
• -ence (state/quality, noun suffix)
• -s (plural)