favour

English

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: fa‧vour

Noun

favour (countable and uncountable, plural favours)

1. British standard spelling of favor.

   I need a favour. Could you lend me £5 until tomorrow, please?

   Can you do me a favour and drop these letters in the post box?

   • 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:

     Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.

Translations

favour — see favor

Verb

favour (third-person singular simple present favours, present participle favouring, simple past and past participle favoured)

1. British standard spelling of favor.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:2:

     And the Angel came in vnto her, and said, Haile thou that art highly fauoured, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     The departure was not unduly prolonged. In the road Mr. Love and the driver favoured the company with a brief chanty running. “Got it?—No, I ain't, 'old on,—Got it? Got it?—No, 'old on sir.”

   • 1959 April, B. Perren, “The Essex Coast Branches of the Great Eastern Line”, in Trains Illustrated, page 191:

     Clacton and Walton are resorts mostly favoured by Londoners and only three trains run through to the Midlands and North.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Even in an era when individuality in dress is a cult, his clothes were noticeable. He was wearing a hard hat of the low round kind favoured by hunting men, and with it a black duffle-coat lined with white.

Usage notes

• Favour is the standard British and Commonwealth spelling. Favor is the standard American spelling.

Translations

favour — see favor

Middle English

Alternative forms

• faver, favor, favoure, ffavour, fovour

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman favour, favur, from Latin favor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faːˈvuːr/, /ˈfaːvur/

Noun

favour (uncountable)

1. goodwill, benevolent regard
2. assistance, support, aid
3. attractiveness, beauty
4. partiality, prejudice
5. (rare) forgiveness, lenience

Related terms

• favourable
• favourere
• favouren

Descendants

• English: favor, favour (Commonwealth, Ireland)
• → Welsh: ffafr

References

• “fāvǒur, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Noun

favour oblique singular, f (oblique plural favours, nominative singular favour, nominative plural favours)

1. Late Anglo-Norman spelling of favor

   [V]ous leur veulliez faire favour[,] ease et desport sanz faire a eux ou soeffrer estre fait de nully male, moleste, injurie, damage indehucee, destourbance ne empeschement en aucune manere.

   You want to show them favour, ease and enjoyment without making them suffer or subjecting them to any evil, harm, injury, damage, disruption or obstacle of any kind.