favel means flattery; cajolery; deceit. It carries an Arena rating of 1423, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, favel ranks #386 of 13,217 for Most Malleable Words, #1,215 of 13,217 for Most Storied Words, #1,394 of 13,217 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,925 of 13,217 for Scariest Words.
Why “favel” is a great word
Favel is deceitful flattery, or a dun-colored horse; also, of a yellow or dun hue. From Latin *fabula* ("story, fable") through its diminutive *fabella* ("short fable, tale") into Old French as *favele*, its specific sense crystallized in the early 14th-century allegorical poem *Roman de Fauvel*, featuring a dun horse symbolizing duplicity and corruption. Unlike "adulation," which can be excessive but sincere, or "cajolery," which is mere coaxing, favel is flattery steeped in hypocrisy, a pleasing fiction told to mask a corrosive intent. It is the sycophant's honeyed whisper in a shadowed corridor, the treacherous beast of a parable cloaked in plain, dusty yellow, the gilded promise that tarnishes upon touch—a reminder that the most dangerous deceptions often wear the most ordinary colors.
Etymology
From Old French favele, from Latin fabella (“short fable”), diminutive of fabula. See fable.
noun
- flattery; cajolery; deceit“The friendly foe, with his double face,
Say he is gentle and courteous therewithal;
And say that favel hath a goodly grace
In eloquence; and cruelty to name”
- A horse of a favel or dun colour.
adj
- yellow or dun in colour“There came rydynge a messager vpon a horse fauell.”
Words closest in meaning
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