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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

savour.

An aroma or smell.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈseɪvə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈseɪvəɹ/General-American
  1. An aroma or smell.

    UK · countable
  2. The quality which the sense of taste detects; also (countable), a specific flavour or taste, especially one different from the predominant one.

    UK · uncountable
  3. The quality which the sense of taste detects; also (countable), a specific flavour or taste, especially one different from the predominant one. An appealing or appetizing flavour, especially one which is savoury or strong.

    UK · countable
  4. A distinctive sensation like a flavour or taste, or an aroma or smell.

    UK · countable · figuratively
  5. A particular quality, especially a small amount of it; a hint or trace of something.

    UK · countable · figuratively
  6. A quality which is appealing or enjoyable; merit, value.

    UK · countable · figuratively
  7. A reputation.

    UK · archaic · countable · figuratively
  8. Enjoyment or taste for something; appreciation; pleasure; relish; (countable) an instance of this.

    UK · figuratively · uncountable
  9. Knowledge; understanding.

    UK · figuratively · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English savour, from Anglo-Norman saveur, savor, savour, and Old French saveur, savor, savour (modern French saveur), from Latin sapor, from sapiō (“to taste of (something); to have a flavour”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-, *sep- (“to taste; to try out”)) + -or (suffix forming third-declension masculine abstract nouns). Doublet of sapor.

verb/ˈseɪvə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈseɪvəɹ/General-American
  1. To detect (a flavour or taste, or food or drink); to taste; specifically, to enjoy or linger on (a flavour or taste, or food and drink); to relish.

    UK · transitive
    He closed his eyes so he could really savour his dessert.
  2. To give (food or drink) flavour; to flavour, to season.

    UK · transitive
  3. To detect (an aroma or smell, especially an appealing one); to smell.

    UK · archaic · transitive
  4. To enjoy (something) deeply or in a lingering manner; to appreciate, to delight in, to relish.

    UK · figuratively · transitive
  5. To find (something) appealing; to appreciate, to like.

    UK · figuratively · transitive
  6. To possess (a particular, often negative, quality), especially a small amount of it; to be redolent or suggestive of (something).

    UK · archaic · figuratively · transitive
  7. To be appealing to (a person, the senses, etc.).

    UK · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  8. To experience, perceive, or understand (something).

    UK · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  9. To give (something) a particular quality; to imbue with.

    UK · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  10. To give (something) an aroma or smell.

    UK · figuratively · obsolete · rare · transitive
  11. Followed by out: to detect or find (something).

    UK · figuratively · obsolete · rare · transitive
  12. To have a suspicion of (something).

    UK · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  13. Of a thing: to give off a (specified) aroma or smell.

    UK · archaic · intransitive
  14. Of food or drink: to have a specified (especially appealing) flavour or taste.

    UK · archaic · intransitive · obsolete
  15. To possess a particular (often negative) quality, especially a small amount of it; to be redolent or suggestive of.

    UK · figuratively · intransitive
  16. Chiefly followed by a descriptive word like ill or well: to have a specified quality.

    UK · archaic · figuratively · intransitive
  17. To give off a foul smell; to stink.

    UK · intransitive · obsolete
  18. Chiefly followed by to, unto, with, etc.: to be appealing.

    UK · figuratively · intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English savouren, savour, from Anglo-Norman savorer, savourer, Middle French savorer, savourer, and Old French savorer, savourer (modern French savourer), from Late Latin sapōrāre, the present active infinitive of sapōrō (“to give flavour, make tasty; to give pleasure”), from Latin sapor (see etymology 1) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.