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Etymology and origin of the English word savory

English has two words spelled savory (British savoury for the first): the adjective “tasty”, from Old French savouré, and the herb, ultimately from Latin satureia.[1][2][3] The herb's name was probably altered by the adjective.[4][5]

Pronunciation

  • /ˈseɪ.vər.i/[6]

Forms

savory1 appetizing, salty

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1200
Borrowed from
Old French savouré via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin sapor

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English savure, also savery,[2][4] borrowed from Old French savouré (“tasty, flavourful”),[2][4][5] the past participle of savourer (“to taste”) (see savor),[2][4][1] from Late Latin sapōrō, from Latin sapor (“taste, flavour”).[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Spiritually delightful, of virtues and the like, recorded about 1200.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Of food and drink, flavourful, it is from about 1300 according to Barnhart and the late 14th century according to Etymonline.[2][4] The sense “salty or piquant, not sweet” is later,[8] and so is “morally respectable”, now mostly in the negative unsavory.[8] A savory, a piquant dish served at the end of a British dinner, is from 1661.[2][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – spiritually delightful.[2][4]
  • c. 1300 – flavourful.[2]
  • 1661 – noun, a savoury dish.[2][5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Appetizing to the taste or smell.
  2. Salty or piquant; not sweet.
  3. Morally respectable; inoffensive.

Noun

  1. (chiefly British) A dish of piquant taste served before or at the end of a meal.

Word family

  • savorily
  • savoriness
  • unsavory

savory2 herb

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1000 c. 1000 (sætherie); 1373 (savory)
From
Middle English saverey
Ultimate origin
Latin satureia

Etymology

The herb is inherited from Middle English saverey,[1][5] ultimately from Latin satureia,[2][4][3] a word of uncertain origin.[2][4] Its history in English is uncertain:[2] it may be an alteration of Old English sæþerie, from Latin through Old French,[2][4][3] or a borrowing of an Old French form with v, such as savereie.[2][9] Either way it was probably influenced by the adjective.[4][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The herb, Old English sætherie about 1000;[10][2] savory is from 1373, and earlier as the surname Sauvary (1250).[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It names herbs of the mint family, especially summer savory and winter savory, natives of southern Europe, whose leaves are used for flavouring.[3][8] Dyer's savory was the saw-wort (1874).[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – Old English sætherie.[10]
  • 1250 – Sauvary, as a surname.[2]
  • 1373 – savory, the herb.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Either of two aromatic Mediterranean herbs of the mint family, summer savory and winter savory, used in cooking.

Word family

  • summer savory
  • winter savory

References

  1. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Savory.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/savory. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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