preference

See also: préférence

English

Alternative forms

• præference (archaic)

Etymology 1

From Middle French preference, from Medieval Latin preferentia. Doublet of preferans.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛf(ə)ɹ(ə)ns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

preference (countable and uncountable, plural preferences)

1. The selection of one thing or person over others (with the main adposition being "for" in relation to the thing or person, but possibly also "of")

   He has a preference for crisp wines.

2. The option to so select, and the one selected.
   • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:

     Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.

   Can I keep my preferences when I upgrade to the new version of this application?

3. The state of being preferred over others.
4. A strong liking or personal valuation.
5. A preferential bias; partiality; discrimination.

Synonyms

• forechoice
• (preferential bias): see Thesaurus:predilection

Translations

selection

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha), вы́бар m (výbar)
• Bulgarian: предпочита́ние (bg) n (predpočitánie), и́збор (bg) m (ízbor)
• Catalan: preferència f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 優選, 优选 (yōuxuǎn), 選擇 (zh), 选择 (zh) (xuǎnzé)

• Finnish: valinta (fi), preferenssi (fi)
• French: préférence (fr) f
• Galician: preferencia (gl) f
• Georgian: არჩევანი (arčevani), პრეფერენცია (ṗreperencia), მჯობინება (mǯobineba), უპირატესობის მინიჭება (uṗiraṭesobis minič̣eba)
• German: Vorliebe (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: προαίρεσις f (proaíresis), πρόκριμα n (prókrima)

• Haitian Creole: preferans
• Hebrew: העדפה‎ f (ha'adafá)
• Japanese: 選択 (ja) (せんたく, sentaku)
• Korean: 선택 (ko) (seontaek)
• Navajo: siłkidígíí
• Plautdietsch: Läne n
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Romanian: preferință (ro) f
• Russian: вы́бор (ru) m (výbor), префере́нция (ru) f (preferéncija), предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije)
• Spanish: preferencia (es) f
• Swedish: företräde (sv), preferens (sv)
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha), ви́бір m (výbir)

option to select or selected

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha), вы́бар m (výbar)
• Bulgarian: предпочита́ние (bg) n (predpočitánie)
• Catalan: preferència f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: prefero
• Finnish: valinta (fi)
• German: Vorliebe (de) f, Bevorzugung f
• Hebrew: העדפה‎ f (ha'adafá)

• Maori: manakotanga
• Navajo: siłkidígíí
• Polish: preferencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Romanian: preferință (ro)
• Russian: вы́бор (ru) m (výbor), префере́нция (ru) f (preferéncija), предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije)
• Swedish: företräde (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha), ви́бір (výbir)

state of being preferred

• Afrikaans: voorkeur
• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha)
• Catalan: preferència f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 優先 (zh), 优先 (zh) (yōuxiān)

• Dutch: voorkeur (nl)
• Finnish: suosikkiasema, suosituimmuus
• German: Bevorzugung f, Vorzug (de) m
• Hebrew: העדפה‎ f (ha'adafá)
• Italian: preferenza (it) f
• Japanese: 優先 (ja) (yūsen)

• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: veurkeur

• Maori: manakotanga, mariutanga
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Romanian: `preferat m, preferată f
• Russian: предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije), вы́бор (ru) m (výbor)
• Swedish: företräde (sv)
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha)

liking

• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偏好 (zh) (piānhào), 喜愛 (zh), 喜爱 (zh) (xǐ'ài)

• Finnish: preferenssi (fi), mieltymys (fi)
• German: Vorliebe (de) f, Bevorzugung f
• Hebrew: העדפה‎ f (Ha`adafá)

• Japanese: 好み (ja) (konomi)
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Russian: предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije)
• Spanish: preferencia (es)
• Swedish: förkärlek (sv), preferens (sv)
• Telugu: అభిరుచి (te) (abhiruci)
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha)

bias

• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha)
• Finnish: puolueellisuus (fi)
• Hebrew: העדפה‎ f (ha'adafá)
• Japanese: えこひいき (ekohīki)
• Polish: preferencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f

• Russian: предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije), префере́нция (ru) f (preferéncija)
• Spanish: preferencia (es) f
• Swedish: förmånsrätt
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha)

card game — see preferans

Verb

preference (third-person singular simple present preferences, present participle preferencing, simple past and past participle preferenced)

1. (US) To give preferential treatment to; to give a preference to.

See also

• preferences

Etymology 2

Noun

preference (uncountable)

1. Preferans, a card game, principally played in Eastern Europe.

---

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈprɛfɛrɛnt͡sɛ]

Noun

preference f

1. preference (selection of one thing or person over others)

   spotřebitelské preference ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   volební preference ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

• preferenční

Related terms

• See oferta
• preferovat

See also

• upřednostnění

Further reading

• preference in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• preference in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

---

Middle French

Noun

preference f (plural preferences)

1. preference (option preferred over another option)