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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfleɪvə/
• IPA^(key): /ˈfleɪvɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvə(r)

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. A substance used to produce a taste. Flavoring.

   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

5. (informal) A kind or type.

   Debian is one flavor of the Linux operating system.

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

   the flavor of a rose

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:

     It was damp, it was not free from dry rot, there was a flavor 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.

Translations

the quality produced by the sensation of taste

• Bashkir: тәм (təm)
• Basque: zapore
• Bulgarian: вкус (bg) m (vkus)
• Catalan: gust (ca) m, sabor (ca) m
• Chinese:

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

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

  Alemannic German: Gust m

• Hebrew: טַעַם (he) m (tá'am)
• Italian: sapore (it), gusto (it)
• Japanese: 味 (ja) (あじ, aji)
• Kalmyk: амтн (amtn)
• Khmer: រសជាតិ (rʊəh ciet)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: sapor m
• Lithuanian: skonis m
• Malay: rasa (ms)
• Maori: namunamuā, hā, tāwara, tāwhara
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: smak
• Polish: smak (pl) m
• Portuguese: sabor (pt) m, gosto (pt)
• Russian: вкус (ru) m (vkus), арома́т (ru) m (aromát), при́вкус (ru) m (prívkus)
• Spanish: sabor (es) m, gusto (es) m
• Swedish: smak (sv) c
• Thai: รสชาติ (th) (rót-châat)
• Turkish: çeşni (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• 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

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 調料／调料 (zh) (tiáoliào), 调料 (zh) (tiáoliào)

• Czech: příchuť f
• Dutch: smaakstof (nl)
• Finnish: makuaine, mauste (fi)
• French: saveur (fr) f
• German: Geschmacksstoff (de) m, Geschmacksverstärker (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: sapori (it) pl, fragranza (it) f, aroma (it) m
• Japanese: 香料 (ja) (こうりょう, kōryō)
• Latin: sapor m
• Maori: whaktakakara
• Portuguese: condimento (pt) m
• Russian: припра́ва (ru) f (pripráva), доба́вка (ru) f (dobávka)
• Swedish: smakämne (sv) n, smaktillsats c

a variety (of taste)

• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: sapor m
• Malay: perisa
• Portuguese: sabor (pt) m
• Russian: буке́т (ru) m (bukét)
• Spanish: sabor (es) m
• Swedish: smak (sv) c

the characteristic quality of something

• Dutch: smaak (nl)
• Finnish: maku (fi)
• French: saveur (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: sabor (pt) m
• Russian: при́вкус (ru) m (prívkus), осо́бенность (ru) f (osóbennostʹ)

a type of something

• Finnish: maku (fi)
• French: style (fr) m
• Korean: 특징 (ko) (teukjing)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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.

Translations

to add flavoring to something

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

  Ancient Greek: ἀρτύω (artúō)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• Swedish: smaksätta (sv)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• flavored
• flavorful
• flavoring
• flavorless

• flavor of the month
• flavor of the week
• flavorsome

See also

• gustatory
• gustation