Where does “favoritism” come from?

Favoritism derives from favorite plus the suffix -ism, from Ancient Greek -ισμός and -μός, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -mós.

favoritism (English): Alternative form of favouritism

Definitions

  1. Alternative form of favouritism

Ancestry of “favoritism”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishfavoriteAlternative form of favourite
2Middle Frenchfavoritfavored one
3Old Frenchfavorit
4Italianfavoritofavourite; mollycoddle; teacher's pet
5Italianfavorireto favour, to favor, to help, to aid, to support;...
6Italianfavorefavour
7Latinfavorgood will, inclination, partiality, favor;...
8Latin-orused to form a third-declension masculine...
9Proto-Italic-ōsCreates masculine action nouns or result nouns...
10Proto-Indo-European-ōsCreates masculine and feminine action nouns or...
11Proto-Indo-European-oss
12Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -osEvery word from Latin -orEvery word from Latin favor
favoritism — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer