flavor

American

[fley-ver] / ˈfleɪ vər /

especially British, flavour

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.

Synonyms:

seasoning
the characteristic quality of a thing.

He captured the flavor of the experience in his book.

Synonyms:

spirit, essence
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).

flavor Scientific

/ 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.

Related Words

See taste.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of flavor

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French fla(o)ur, from unattested Late Latin flātor “stench, breath,” alteration of Latin flātus a “blowing, breathing,” ( see flatus), perhaps with -or of fētor fetor

Explanation

Flavor is the way something tastes. If an ice cream shop offers 50 flavors, each one of them will taste different. The flavor of your soup can be adjusted by adding salt — and when you add ingredients to change a food's taste, you can say you flavor it. From the flavor of food comes the sense of flavor meaning "atmosphere" or "feeling." You could say, for example, that you're not crazy about a particular clothing shop because it has such a glitzy, expensive flavor. Flavor initially meant "smell," from the Vulgar Latin flator, "odor."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Recently, I’m also enjoying meals built not from elaborate technique, but from ingredients that arrive already carrying a tremendous amount of flavor.

From Salon • May 19, 2026

People say the flavor of these cherries is super intense.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026

Coffee is made up of hundreds of phytochemicals, compounds that influence flavor, aroma, and potentially health.

From Science Daily • May 18, 2026

It would merely be a different flavor of raiding the Treasury for personal gain.

From Slate • May 16, 2026

The tears that fell down Maya-Jade’s already tearstained face were a different flavor from the previous ones.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023