savour
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "savour", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "savour" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "savour" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
savour is aEnglishnoun. It means: An aroma or smell. Pronounced /ˈseɪvə/. Often confused with sour and Savoy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | savour |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈseɪvə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #38,147 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for savour is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈseɪvə/. Corpus data places it at rank #38,147 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for savour, with forms such as "asvour", "saovur", and "savoru". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "sour", "Savoy", "scour", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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-… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is savour, spelled S-A-V-O-U-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1An aroma or smell.
- 2The quality which the sense of taste detects; also (countable), a specific flavour or taste, especially one different from the predominant one.
- 3The quality which the sense of taste detects; also (countable), a specific flavour or taste, especially one different from the predominant one.
- 4A distinctive sensation like a flavour or taste, or an aroma or smell.
- 5A particular quality, especially a small amount of it; a hint or trace of something.
- 6A quality which is appealing or enjoyable; merit, value.
- 7A reputation.
- 8Enjoyment or taste for something; appreciation; pleasure; relish; (countable) an instance of this.
- 9Knowledge; understanding.
Etymology
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.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: asvour,saovur,savoru,savourr,savuor,savvour,ssavour,svaour
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for savour
Misspelling Variants of "savour"
Frequency rank: #38,147 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: