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I am wondering if there is a word for a person who has a certain favorite. Consider the following example:

A person, Jack, has two favorite fruits: apples and oranges. Another person, Jill, also has two favorites: bananas and apples.

Now there are two persons with the apple in their list of favorite fruits. Said another way, the apple has two “favoritees”. Is this a good word for this relation, or is there a better one?

Thanks in advance!

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    I would suggest this is favourer, as in "someone who favours something".
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented May 9, 2013 at 16:11
  • Thanks for the suggestion, Andrew! Although I feel like “favourer” also is a bit of a hacky word, it does appear in the Oxford dictionaries, so I'll go with it for now. :-)
    – sindrenm
    Commented May 9, 2013 at 16:18
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    Or you could go with "preferrer." Origin: 1350–1400; Middle English preferre < Latin praeferre to bear before, set before, prefer, equivalent to prae- pre- + ferre to bear Related forms: pre·fer·red·ly [pri-fur-id-lee, -furd-lee], adverb; pre·fer·red·ness, noun; pre·fer·rer, noun; un·pre·ferred, adjective Synonyms: 1. favor, fancy. 3. offer, proffer, tender. (from dictionaryBoss)
    – rhetorician
    Commented May 9, 2013 at 17:17
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    There isn't a single word for the person; but there's the fixed phrase playing favorites for the trait of giving preference to some person for personal reasons, and also the fixed phrase playing the favorite for the action of betting on a horse, player, or outcome that is the favorite in a contest.
    – John Lawler
    Commented May 9, 2013 at 17:18

3 Answers 3

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The apple has a fanbase of 2.

or

Jack and Jill are apple fans.

From TheFreeDictionary.com:

Fanbase [ˈfænˌbeɪs]

n

"the body of admirers of a particular pop singer, football team, etc." (or fruit!)

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    There are many great suggestions here, and I feel like I should have thought of many of them, especially this one! This is also the one most fitting to my situation and context, so I'll accept this as the answer to my question. Thanks!
    – sindrenm
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 17:58
  • I might say "Jill is a fan of apples". "Jill is an Apple fan" would probably carry a connotation of being a fan of the company Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) rather than of apples, the fruit.
    – Matt
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 21:14
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There are are a number of words which might fit well, depending on the context. Here's a few that strike me as particularly appropriate for your example:

For example,

Jack and Jill are both apple connoisseurs.

There were two apple fanciers in the room.

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There are many relational antonyms for favorite with different connotations; Wiktionary offers an extensive list as synonyms of enthusiast.

Examples grouped by major connotations:

  • admirer, enthusiast, fan, fancier for ordinary preferences

  • addict, fanatic, fiend, freak, geek, junkie, maniac for unusual or extreme favorites

  • devotee, partisan, zealot for extreme loyalty

  • aficionado, connoisseur, maven for expertise

For the specific example given, I would use apple fan or fancier.

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