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flavour

Pronunciation: /ˈfleɪvə/

(US flavor)
Translate flavour | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of flavour

noun

  • 1the distinctive taste of a food or drink:the yoghurt comes in eight fruit flavours [mass noun]:adding sun-dried tomatoes gives the sauce extra flavour
  • chiefly US a substance used to alter or enhance the taste of food or drink; a flavouring.
  • 2 [in singular] an indication of the essential character of something:the extracts give a flavour of the content and tone of the conversation
  • [in singular] a distinctive quality or atmosphere:whitewashed walls and red pantiles gave the resort a Mediterranean flavour
  • 3a kind, variety, or sort:various flavours of firewall are evolving
  • 4 Physics a quantized property of quarks which differentiates them into at least six varieties (up, down, charmed, strange, top, bottom). Compare with colour.

verb

[with object]
  • alter or enhance the taste of (food or drink) by adding a particular ingredient:chunks of chicken flavoured with herbs

Phrases

flavour of the month

a person or thing that enjoys a short period of great popularity:American sitcoms are currently flavour of the month

Derivatives

flavourful

adjective

flavourless

adjective

flavoursome

adjective

Origin:

late Middle English (in the sense 'fragrance, aroma'): from Old French flaor, perhaps based on a blend of Latin flatus 'blowing' and foetor 'stench'; the -v- appears to have been introduced in Middle English by association with savour. flavour (sense 1 of the noun) dates from the late 17th century

Spelling help

Remember that flavour ends with -our (the spelling flavor is American).

flavour in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of flavour in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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