preference

See also: préférence

English

Alternative forms

• præference (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle French preference, from Medieval Latin preferentia. Doublet of preferans. Morphologically prefer +‎ -ence. Compare typologically Russian предвзя́тость (predvzjátostʹ) (<< взять (vzjatʹ), a suppletive of брать (bratʹ), which is cognate with Latin ferō).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛf(ə)ɹ(ə)ns/, /ˈpɹɛf(ə)ɹɛns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛfəɹəns

Noun

preference (countable and uncountable, plural preferences)

1. The selection of one thing or person over others (with the main adposition being "for" in relation to the thing or person, but possibly also "of")

   Synonyms: druthers, way

   He has a preference for crisp wines.

2. The option to so select, and the one selected.

   Can I keep my preferences when I upgrade to the new version of this application?

   • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:

     Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.

3. The state of being preferred over others.
4. A strong liking or personal valuation.
5. A preferential bias; partiality; discrimination.

Synonyms

• forechoice
• (preferential bias): see Thesaurus:predilection

Derived terms

• affectional preference
• depreference
• dispreference
• enantiopreference
• in preference to
• isopreference
• nonpreference
• photopreference
• preference cascade
• preference share
• preference stock
• preferendum
• revealed preference
• sexual preference
• stereopreference
• subpreference
• thermopreference
• time preference

Translations

selection

• Altai:

  Southern Altai: артык кӧрӧр (artïk körör)

• Arabic: تَفْضِيل m (tafḍīl), أَفْضَلِيَّة (ʔafḍaliyya)
• Armenian: նախապատվություն (hy) (naxapatvutʻyun)
• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha), вы́бар m (výbar)
• Bulgarian: предпочита́ние (bg) n (predpočitánie), и́збор (bg) m (ízbor)
• Catalan: preferència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 優選 / 优选 (zh) (yōuxuǎn), 選擇 / 选择 (zh) (xuǎnzé)

• Czech: preference (cs) f, přednost (cs) f
• Danish: præference c
• Dutch: voorkeur (nl) m, preferentie (nl) f
• Estonian: eelistus
• Finnish: valinta (fi), preferenssi (fi)
• French: préférence (fr) f
• Galician: preferencia (gl) f
• Georgian: არჩევანი (arčevani), პრეფერენცია (ṗreperencia), მჯობინება (mǯobineba), უპირატესობის მინიჭება (uṗiraṭesobis minič̣eba)
• German: Vorliebe (de) f, Präferenz (de) f, Vorzug (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: προαίρεσις f (proaíresis), πρόκριμα n (prókrima)

• Haitian Creole: preferans
• Hebrew: הַעֲדָפָה f (ha'adafá)
• Hindi: प्राथमिकता f (prāthmiktā), वरीयता f (varīytā), अग्रिमता f (agrimtā)
• Hungarian: preferencia (hu)
• Italian: preferenza (it) f
• Japanese: 選択 (ja) (せんたく, sentaku)
• Kazakh: қалау (qalaw)
• Korean: 선택(選擇) (ko) (seontaek)
• Latvian: priekšroka f
• Lithuanian: preferencija f
• Macedonian: претпочитање n (pretpočitanje)
• Navajo: siłkidígíí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: preferanse m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: تَرْجیح (tarjih), تَفْضیل (tafzil)

• Plautdietsch: Läne n
• Polish: preferencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Romanian: preferință (ro) f
• Russian: предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije), префере́нция (ru) f (preferéncija), вы́бор (ru) m (výbor)
• Slovak: preferencia f, prednosť f
• Slovene: prednost (sl) f
• Spanish: preferencia (es) f
• Swedish: företräde (sv), preferens (sv)
• Tajik: тарҷех (tarjex), афзал (afzal), афзалият (afzaliyat)
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha), ви́бір m (výbir)
• Urdu: تَرْجِیح f (tarjīh)
• Uzbek: afzal koʻrish

option to select or selected

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha), вы́бар m (výbar)
• Bulgarian: предпочита́ние (bg) n (predpočitánie)
• Catalan: preferència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: prefero
• Finnish: valinta (fi)
• German: Vorliebe (de) f, Bevorzugung f
• Hebrew: הַעֲדָפָה f (ha'adafá)
• Icelandic: kjörkostur m
• Malayalam: ക്രമീകരണം (ml) (kramīkaraṇaṁ)
• Māori: manakotanga
• Navajo: siłkidígíí
• Polish: preferencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Romanian: preferință (ro)
• Russian: вы́бор (ru) m (výbor), префере́нция (ru) f (preferéncija), предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije)
• Swedish: företräde (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha), ви́бір m (výbir)

state of being preferred

• Afrikaans: voorkeur
• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha)
• Catalan: preferència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 優先 / 优先 (zh) (yōuxiān)

• Dutch: voorkeur (nl)
• Finnish: suosikkiasema, suosituimmuus
• German: Bevorzugung f, Vorzug (de) m
• Hebrew: הַעֲדָפָה f (ha'adafá)
• Hindi: प्राथमिकता f (prāthmiktā), वरीयता f (varīytā)
• Italian: preferenza (it) f
• Japanese: 優先 (ja) (ゆうせん, yūsen)
• Korean: 우선(優先) (ko) (useon)
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: veurkeur

• Malayalam: മുൻഗണന (ml) (muṉgaṇana)
• Māori: manakotanga, mariutanga
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Romanian: preferat (ro) m, preferată f
• Russian: предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije), вы́бор (ru) m (výbor)
• Swedish: företräde (sv)
• Tamil: முன்னுரிமை (ta) (muṉṉurimai)
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha)

liking

• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偏好 (zh) (piānhào), 喜愛 / 喜爱 (zh) (xǐ'ài)

• Finnish: preferenssi (fi), mieltymys (fi)
• German: Vorliebe (de) f, Bevorzugung f
• Hebrew: הַעֲדָפָה f (ha'adafá)
• Japanese: 好み (ja) (こ​のみ, konomi)
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Russian: предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije)
• Spanish: preferencia (es)
• Swedish: förkärlek (sv), preferens (sv)
• Telugu: అభిరుచి (te) (abhiruci)
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha)

bias

• Belarusian: перава́га f (pjeraváha)
• Finnish: puolueellisuus (fi)
• Hebrew: הַעֲדָפָה f (ha'adafá)
• Japanese: 依怙贔屓 (ja) (えこひいき, ekohīki)
• Polish: preferencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: preferência (pt) f
• Russian: предпочте́ние (ru) n (predpočténije), префере́нция (ru) f (preferéncija)
• Spanish: preferencia (es) f
• Swedish: förmånsrätt
• Tamil: சார்பு (ta) (cārpu), பாரபட்சம் (ta) (pārapaṭcam)
• Turkish: tercih (tr)
• Ukrainian: перева́га f (pereváha)

card game — see preferans

Verb

preference (third-person singular simple present preferences, present participle preferencing, simple past and past participle preferenced)

1. (US, transitive) To give preferential treatment to; to give a preference to.

See also

• preferences

Etymology 2

Noun

preference (uncountable)

1. (card games) Preferans, a card game, played principally in Eastern Europe.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈprɛfɛrɛnt͡sɛ]

Noun

preference f

1. preference (selection of one thing or person over others)

   spotřebitelské preference ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   volební preference ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Declension

Declension of preference (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	preference	preference
genitive	preference	preferencí
dative	preferenci	preferencím
accusative	preferenci	preference
vocative	preference	preference
locative	preferenci	preferencích
instrumental	preferencí	preferencemi

Derived terms

• preferenční

Related terms

• See oferta

• preferovat

See also

• upřednostnění

Further reading

• “preference”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “preference”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “preference”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Middle French

Noun

preference f (plural preferences)

1. preference (option preferred over another option)