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''savory'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260817195045-00-⌔

savory - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

savory (comparative savorier, superlative savoriest) (American spelling)

  • Tasty, attractive to the palate.
    • ✤ The fine restaurant presented an array of savory dishes; each was delicious.
  • Either salty or spicy, but not sweet.
    • ✤ The mushrooms, meat, bread, rice, peanuts and potatoes were all good savory foods.
  • Umami.
    • ✤ The savory rabbit soup contrasted well with the sweet cucumber sandwiches with jam.
  • (figuratively) Morally or ethically acceptable.
    • ✤ Readers are to be warned that quotations in this chapter contain some not so savory language.
    • ✤ The ruthless practices of the Ontario Film Censor Board are by now the laughing stock of most of the world. Scenes that contain more flesh or affection than they find savoury are simply hacked out of the film before it is released.1

Noun

savory (plural savories)

  • (American spelling) A savory snack.
    • ✤ On Friday the pastry chef Pichet Ong will open his own cafe, with sweets and savories served at tables and a counter.2

Noun

savory (countable and uncountable, plural savories)

  • Any of several Mediterranean herbs, of the genus Satureja, grown as culinary flavourings.
    • ✤ There are some who advise taking the noxious herb savory; in my judgment it is poison.3
  • The leaves of these plants used as a flavouring.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA: /ˈseɪ.və.ɹi/, /ˈseɪv.ɹi/
    • Audio (California): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -eɪvəɹi, -eɪvɹi

Etymology 1

From the Middle English savory, savourie, from Old French savouré, from Old French savourer, from Late Latin sapōrāre, from Latin sapor (“taste, flavour”), from sapiō, sapere (“taste of, have a flavour of”).

Etymology 2

🖼️ ➺

From Middle English saverey, possibly from Old English sæþerie, from Latin satureia, influenced by or via Old French savereie.

Printed 2026-08-17.

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Footnotes

  1. 1981 February 14, Alexander Wilson, “The New Right Attacks Childhood Sexuality: A Canadian Perspective”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 6: ↩

  2. 2007 April 18, Florence Fabricant, “Off the Menu”, in New York Times ‎: ↩

  3. 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 208: ↩