flavor

English

Alternative forms

• flavour (British spelling)

Etymology

From Middle English flavour meaning “smell, odour”, usually pleasing, borrowed from Old French flaour (“smell, odour”), from Vulgar Latin *flātor (“odour, that which blows”), from Latin flātor (“blower”), from flō, flāre (“to blow, puff”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to make a loud noise”). Doublet of blow and bleat.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfleɪvə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfleɪvɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvə(ɹ)

Noun

flavor (countable and uncountable, plural flavors) (American spelling)

1. The quality produced by the sensation of taste or, especially, of taste and smell in combined effect.

   The flavor of this apple pie is delicious.

2. Flavoring, a substance used to produce a taste.

   Flavor was added to the pudding.

3. A variety (of taste) attributed to an object.

   What flavor of bubble gum do you enjoy?

4. The characteristic quality of something.

   the flavor of an experience

   • 1983 December 10, Mike Riegle, “Sexual Politics of "Crime": Inside and Out”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 21, page 5:

     I'd like to read from a pair of letters that we got recently at GCN to give you the flavor of the issues gay prisoners have to deal with.

5. (informal) A kind or type.

   Debian is one flavor of the Linux operating system.

6. (hip-hop slang) Style.
   • 1993, “Bring The Flavor”, in Black Reign, performed by Queen Latifah:

     Who brings the flavor? / That's me, that's me / Who brings the flavor? / That's me. I got it

7. (particle physics) One of the six types of quarks (top, bottom, strange, charmed, up, and down) or three types of leptons (electron, muon, and tauon).
8. (archaic) The quality produced by the sensation of smell; odour; fragrance.

   the flavor of a rose

   • 1859 December 13, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 4:

     It was damp, it was not free from dry rot, there was a flavour of rats in it, and it was the gloomy victim of that indescribable decay which settles on all the work of man’s hands whenever it’s not turned to man’s account.

Derived terms

• fat is flavor
• flavored
• flavor enhancer
• flavor fatigue
• flavorful
• flavoring
• flavorless
• flavor of the month
• flavor of the road
• flavor of the week
• flavorsome
• flavor text
• off-flavor
• today's flavor

 

Translations

the quality produced by the sensation of taste

• Afrikaans: smaak
• Albanian: shije (sq) f
• Arabic: نَكْهَة f (nakha), طَعْم (ar) m (ṭaʕm)
• Armenian: համ (hy) (ham)
• Bashkir: тәм (təm)
• Basque: zapore
• Belarusian: смак m (smak), пры́смак m (prýsmak), арама́т m (aramát)
• Bulgarian: вкус (bg) m (vkus)
• Burmese: ရသ (my) (ra.sa.)
• Catalan: gust (ca) m, sabor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 味道 (zh) (wèidao), 味兒／味儿 (zh) (wèir)

• Czech: příchuť (cs) f
• Danish: smag c
• Dutch: meug (nl) m, smaak (nl) m
• Finnish: maku (fi)
• French: goût (fr) m, saveur (fr) f
• Galician: sabor (gl) m, aroma (gl) m
• Georgian: არომატი (aromaṭi), გემო (gemo)
• German: Geschmack (de) m

  Alemannic German: Gust m

• Hebrew: טַעַם (he) m (tá'am)
• Hindi: स्वाद (hi) m (svād), सुवास (hi) m (suvās)
• Hungarian: zamat (hu), aroma (hu)
• Ingrian: maku
• Italian: sapore (it), gusto (it)
• Japanese: 味 (ja) (あじ, aji), 風味 (ja) (ふうみ, fūmi), 香味 (ja) (こうみ, kōmi), フレーバー (ja) (furēbā)
• Kalmyk: амтн (amtn)
• Khmer: រសជាតិ (rŭəh ciət), រស (km) (rŭəh)
• Korean: 향미(香味) (hyangmi), 풍미(風味) (ko) (pungmi), 맛 (ko) (mat)
• Lao: ລົດຊາດ (lo) (lot sāt)
• Latin: sapor m
• Lithuanian: skonis m
• Macedonian: вкус (mk) m (vkus)
• Malay: rasa (ms)
• Maori: namunamuā, hā, tāwara, tāwhara
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: please add this translation if you can

• Nepali: स्वाद (svād), फ्लेबर (phlebar)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: smak m

  Nynorsk: smak m

• Occitan: gost (oc) m, sabor (oc)
• Persian: طعم (fa) (ta'm), مزه (fa) (maze)
• Polish: smak (pl) m, aromat (pl) m
• Portuguese: sabor (pt) m, gosto (pt)
• Romanian: savoare (ro) f, gust (ro) n, aromă (ro) f
• Russian: вкус (ru) m (vkus), арома́т (ru) m (aromát), при́вкус (ru) m (prívkus)
• Slovak: príchuť f
• Slovene: okus (sl) m, priokus m
• Spanish: sabor (es) m, gusto (es) m, sazón (es) f
• Swedish: smak (sv) c
• Tajik: мазза (tg) (mazza)
• Thai: รสชาติ (th) (rót-châat), รส (th) (rót)
• Tocharian B: śūke
• Turkish: çeşni (tr)
• Ukrainian: смак (uk) m (smak), при́смак (uk) m (prýsmak), арома́т (uk) m (aromát)
• Vietnamese: hương vị (vi)
• Welsh: blas (cy) m
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

a substance used to produce a taste

• Afrikaans: smaakstof
• Arabic: بَهَار (ar) m (bahār)
• Belarusian: прыпра́ва f (prypráva)
• Bulgarian: подпра́вка (bg) f (podprávka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 調料／调料 (zh) (tiáoliào), 調味料／调味料 (zh) (tiáowèiliào)

• Czech: příchuť (cs) f
• Dutch: smaakstof (nl)
• Finnish: makuaine, mauste (fi)
• French: saveur (fr) f
• German: Geschmacksstoff (de) m, Geschmacksverstärker (de) m
• Italian: sapori (it) pl, fragranza (it) f, aroma (it) m
• Japanese: 香料 (ja) (こうりょう, kōryō), 調味料 (ja) (ちょうみりょう, chōmiryō)
• Korean: 향료(香料) (hyangnyo), 조미료(調味料) (ko) (jomiryo)
• Latin: sapor m
• Maori: whaktakakara
• Portuguese: condimento (pt) m
• Russian: припра́ва (ru) f (pripráva), доба́вка (ru) f (dobávka)
• Swedish: smakämne (sv) n, smaktillsats c
• Ukrainian: припра́ва f (prypráva)

a variety (of taste)

• Afrikaans: smaak
• Bulgarian: буке́т (bg) m (bukét)
• Dutch: smaak (nl) m
• Finnish: maku (fi)
• French: saveur (fr) f
• Hebrew: טַעַם (he) m (tá'am)
• Italian: sapore (it) m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: sapor m
• Malay: perisa (ms)
• Portuguese: sabor (pt) m
• Russian: буке́т (ru) m (bukét)
• Spanish: sabor (es) m
• Swedish: smak (sv) c

the characteristic quality of something

• Afrikaans: smaak
• Dutch: smaak (nl) m
• Finnish: maku (fi)
• French: saveur (fr) f
• Portuguese: sabor (pt) m
• Russian: при́вкус (ru) m (prívkus), осо́бенность (ru) f (osóbennostʹ)

a type of something

• Finnish: maku (fi)
• French: style (fr) m
• Italian: tipo (it) m, varietà (it) f, genere (it) m, specie (it) f
• Korean: 특징(特徵) (ko) (teukjing)
• Polish: odmiana (pl) f
• Russian: сорт (ru) m (sort), тип (ru) m (tip)
• Swedish: sort (sv) c, slag (sv) n

in physics, the types of quarks or leptons

• Finnish: maku (fi)
• French: saveur (fr) f
• Italian: sapore (it) m
• Portuguese: sabor (pt) m
• Swedish: arom (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} გემო (gemo), ^{(please verify)} არომატი (aromaṭi), ^{(please verify)} სუნი (suni)

Verb

flavor (third-person singular simple present flavors, present participle flavoring, simple past and past participle flavored)

1. (American spelling, transitive) To add flavoring to something.

Derived terms

• flavor up

Translations

to add flavoring to something

• Bulgarian: подправям (bg) (podpravjam), придавам вкус (pridavam vkus)
• Esperanto: gustigi
• Finnish: maustaa (fi), höystää (fi), antaa makua
• French: assaisonner (fr)
• Galician: condimentar (gl)
• German: würzen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἀρτύω (artúō)

• Hungarian: ízesít (hu), fűszerez (hu)
• Irish: leasaigh
• Italian: condire (it), aromatizzare (it), profumare (it)
• Maori: waitāwhara, whakarehu, whakakakara
• Portuguese: condimentar (pt)
• Russian: приправля́ть (ru) impf (pripravljátʹ), припра́вить (ru) pf (priprávitʹ)
• Spanish: saborizar (es), condimentar (es)
• Swedish: smaksätta (sv)
• Turkish: lezzetlendirmek (tr), tatlandırmak (tr)

See also

• gustatory
• gustation

Further reading

• “flavor n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Middle English

Noun

flavor

1. Alternative form of flavour