n.
- the distinctive taste of a food or drink.
▸chiefly N. Amer. a flavouring.
- a distinctive quality or atmosphere:
a European flavour.
▸an indication of the essential character of something:
the extracts give a flavour of the conversation.
- a kind, variety, or sort:
various flavours of firewall are evolving.
- Physics a quantized property of quarks with values designated up, down, charmed, strange, top, and bottom.
v.
give flavour to.
Phrase
- flavour of the month
a person or thing that is currently popular.
Derivative
- flavoured adj.
- flavourful adj.
- flavourless adj.
- flavoursome adj.
Etymology
ME (in the sense ‘fragrance, aroma’): from OFr. flaor, perh. based on a blend of L. flatus ‘blowing’ and foetor ‘stench’; the -v- appears to have been introduced in ME by assoc. with savour.