preference

Etymology 1

From Middle French preference, from Medieval Latin preferentia. Doublet of preferans. Morphologically prefer + -ence.

noun

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")
   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?
   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. 2013-06-14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18
3. The state of being preferred over others.
4. A strong liking or personal valuation.
5. A preferential bias; partiality; discrimination.

verb

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

Etymology 2

noun

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