flavour

[fley-ver]

noun Chiefly British.

flavor.

Usage note

See -or¹.

flavor

[fley-ver]

noun

taste, especially the distinctive taste of something as it is experienced in the mouth.

a substance or extract that provides a particular taste; flavoring.

the characteristic quality of a thing: He captured the flavor of the experience in his book.

a particular quality noticeable in a thing: language with a strong nautical flavor.

Physics. any of the six labels given to the distinct kinds of quark: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top.

Archaic. smell, odor, or aroma.

verb (used with object)

to give flavor to (something).

Also especially British, fla·vour.

Origin of flavor

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French fla(o)ur < Late Latin *flātor stench, breath, alteration of Latin flātus a blowing, breathing, (see flatus), perhaps with -or of fētor fetor

Related formsfla·vor·less, adjectivede·fla·vor, verb (used with object)o·ver·fla·vor, verbpre·fla·vor, noun, verb (used with object)un·fla·vored, adjectivewell-fla·vored, adjective

Synonyms for flavor

1. See taste. 2. seasoning. 3. essence, spirit.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for flavour

Contemporary Examples of flavour

So there is nothing that starts with ‘Take 17 litres of stock…’ Everything in there is about flavour.
Tom Parker Bowles on Camilla's Roast Chicken, His Cocaine Sting and Those Pictures of Kate
Tom Sykes
October 3, 2012

Historical Examples of flavour

Thicken the gravy with a little flour, and flavour it with a glass of wine.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
Let the lemon remain with the citrons, as it will improve their flavour.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
Then add sufficient lemon-juice to flavour it; and put in the pears.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
The flavour of the lemon will all be boiled out if it is put in too soon.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
This is said greatly to improve their consistence and flavour.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie

British Dictionary definitions for flavour

flavour

US flavor

noun

taste perceived in food or liquid in the mouth

a substance added to food, etc, to impart a specific taste

a distinctive quality or atmosphere; suggestiona poem with a Shakespearean flavour

a type or varietyvarious flavours of graphical interface

physics a property of quarks that enables them to be differentiated into six types: up, down, strange, charm, bottom (or beauty), and top (or truth)

flavour of the month a person or thing that is the most popular at a certain time

verb

(tr) to impart a flavour, taste, or quality to

Derived Formsflavourer or US flavorer, nounflavourless or US flavorless, adjectiveflavoursome or US flavorsome, adjective

Word Origin for flavour

C14: from Old French flaour, from Late Latin flātor (unattested) bad smell, breath, from Latin flāre to blow

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for flavour

chiefly British English spelling of flavor; for spelling, see -or. Related: Flavourful; flavouring.

flavor

1730s, from flavor (n.). Related: Flavored; flavoring.

flavor

c.1300, "a smell, odor" (usually a pleasing one), from Old French flaour "smell, odor," from Vulgar Latin flator "odor," literally "that which blows," from Latin flator "blower," from flare "to blow, puff," which is cognate with Old English blawan (see blow (v.1)).

The same Vulgar Latin source produced Old Italian fiatore "a bad odor." Sense of "taste, savor" is 1690s, perhaps 1670s; originally "the element in taste which depends on the sense of smell." The -v- is perhaps from influence of savor.

flavour in Science

flavor

[flā′vər]

Any of six classifications of quark varieties, distinguished by mass and electric charge. The flavors have the names up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom. Protons in atomic nuclei are composed of two up quarks and one down quark, while neutrons consist of one up quark and two down quarks. The flavor of a quark may be changed in interactions involving the weak force.