English
favori
Favori comes from French favori ‘favo(u)rite’, from Italian favorire ‘to favour’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-1‘to be, become’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaveō2‘to be well disposed or inclined toward, favor, countenance, befriend’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavor3‘good will, inclination, partiality, favor’
- Italianc. 1300–presentfavore4‘favour/favor’
- Italianc. 1300–presentfavorire5‘to favour’
- Italianc. 1300–presentfavorito5past participle of favorire
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600favori5
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfavori6‘favo(u)rite’
- Englishearliest quotation 1831favori6
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin faveo, which cites Kroonen
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin favor
- 3 Wiktionary, Italian favore
- 4 Wiktionary, Italian favorire
- 5 Wiktionary, French favori
- 6 Wiktionary, English favori
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1831, Benjamin Disraeli, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley: “M. de Whiskerburg was a very young man, very…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-Wiktionary, Latin faveo, which cites Kroonen‘to be, become’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaveōWiktionary, Latin favor‘to be well disposed or inclined toward, favor, countenance, befriend’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavorWiktionary, Italian favore‘good will, inclination, partiality, favor’
- Italianc. 1300–presentfavoreWiktionary, Italian favorire‘favour/favor’
- Italianc. 1300–presentfavorireWiktionary, French favori‘to favour’
- Italianc. 1300–presentfavoritoWiktionary, French favoripast participle of favorire
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600favoriWiktionary, French favori
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfavoriWiktionary, English favori‘favo(u)rite’
- Englishearliest quotation 1831favoriWiktionary, English favori. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1831, Benjamin Disraeli, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley: “M. de Whiskerburg was a very young man, very…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become’
be, been, power, possible, future, present, build, physical, improve, presence, essential, bond, bush, bound, absence, contribution, physician, entity, booth, approve, probability, absent, fiat, distribute, bun, bouquet, contributor, imp, retribution, attribution, rebuke, impotent, impossibility, bower, aren, beamer, bosque, phylogeny, physic, phylum, 83 more
through Latin favor ‘good will, inclination, partiality, favor’
through Italian favorire ‘to favour’
Today it means
noun A favorite.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “favori”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin faveo, Latin favor, Italian favore, Italian favorire, French favori. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- / favori