# flavor

Pronunciation: US say "FLAY-vur" /ˈfleɪvɚ/; UK say "FLAY-vuh" /ˈfleɪvə/

## Noun

1. The overall quality of taste in something, produced by taste alone or, more often, by taste and smell in combined effect.
   - Simple: The way something tastes, which comes from taste and smell working together.
   - _Slow roasting brings out the deep flavor of the vegetables._
   - _Pinching your nose while eating shows how much flavor depends on smell._
2. A particular variety of taste given to or identified with a food, candy, drink, medicine, or similar product.
   - Simple: One particular taste that a food or drink can have, like chocolate or mint.
   - _The pharmacy offers the children's medicine in a grape flavor._
   - _Pumpkin spice has become the signature fall flavor at coffee shops across the country._
3. A substance added to food or drink to produce a particular taste; a flavoring.
   - Simple: A substance that cooks or companies add to food to give it a certain taste.
   - _The bakery uses real almond flavor rather than a synthetic substitute._
   - _Food scientists blend dozens of compounds to create a single strawberry flavor._
4. A kind or type; one version or variety among a set of similar options. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A kind or type of something, like one choice among many similar ones.
   - _Linux comes in dozens of flavors, each aimed at a different kind of user._
   - _The startup pitched its own flavor of subscription model to investors._
5. The distinctive character or quality that something possesses or conveys.
   - Simple: The special feeling or character that something has.
   - _The translation preserves the flavor of the original poem._
   - _Wandering the open-air market gave us a real flavor of daily life in the city._
7. Distinctive personal style or flair, especially in dress, music, dance, or self-presentation. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person's own cool style, in the way they dance, dress, or talk.
   - _The crew's routines blend classic breaking with their own flavor._
   - _She raps with a flavor nobody else in the scene can match._
8. One of the six types of quark (up, down, strange, charmed, top, and bottom) or the three types of lepton (electron, muon, and tauon).
   - Simple: One of the basic types of the tiniest particles that make up matter.
   - _Neutrinos oscillate between flavors as they travel through space._
   - _The strange quark carries a different flavor than the up quark._

## Verb

6. To add a flavoring or seasoning to something, giving it a particular taste.
   - Simple: To add something to food or drink to give it a taste.
   - _The chef flavors the broth with ginger and star anise._
   - _Distillers flavor the gin with juniper berries and citrus peel._

## Noun

9. The quality perceived by the sense of smell; an odor or fragrance. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The smell that something gives off, especially a pleasant or sweet one.
   - _The flavor of incense lingered in the chapel long after the service._
   - _She pressed the letter to her face, catching the faint flavor of lavender._

## Origin

This comes from Middle English "flavour" ("smell, odour," usually a pleasing one), borrowed from Old French "flaour." That traces back through Vulgar Latin to Latin "flō, flāre" ("to blow, puff") and ultimately to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to blow." It is a doublet of "blow" and "bleat."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/flavor (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).