Etymograph

English

favourite

Favourite comes from Middle French favorit, possibly via Old French, from Italian favorito ‘favoured’, from Latin favor ‘good will’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaveō1‘to favour’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavor1‘good will, favor’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentfavore1
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentfavorire1‘to favor’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentfavorito1‘favoured, favourite’past participle of favorire
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400favorit1uncertain
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600favorit1
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1701favourite1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English favourite
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1701, George Farquhar: “the Favourites hang loose upon the Temples with a…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfaveōWiktionary, English favourite‘to favour’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfavorWiktionary, English favourite‘good will, favor’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentfavoreWiktionary, English favourite
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentfavorireWiktionary, English favourite‘to favor’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentfavoritoWiktionary, English favourite‘favoured, favourite’past participle of favorire
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400favoritWiktionary, English favouriteuncertain
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600favoritWiktionary, English favourite
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1701favouriteWiktionary, English favourite. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1701, George Farquhar: “the Favourites hang loose upon the Temples with a…”

The story

Attested from the 1580s, borrowed from Middle French favorit, from Old French favorit or Italian favorito (‘favoured, favourite’), past participle of Italian favorire (‘to favor’), from favore, from Latin favor (‘good will, favor’), from the verb faveō (‘to favour’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂weh₁yeti (‘to be favourable to’), from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (‘to shine, glow light’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’

phone, focus, professor, fuel, ben, phase, ban, famous, fantasy, photographer, emphasis, fancy, phenomenon, profession, fame, bee, abandon, fate, fatal, confession, fairy, confess, infant, phantom, symphony, fabulous, beacon, beck, boon, eff, bane, prophetic, epiphany, fab, foyer, banish, fay, buoy, fable, profess, 128 more

through Latin faveō ‘to favour’

favorable, 6 more

through Latin favor ‘good will, favor’

favor, 3 more

Today it means

adj Most-liked. (In other words, [person]'s favorite [noun] = the [noun] that [person] likes the most.)

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “favourite”. 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 / Latin faveō / favourite

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