Fayvah

verb FAY-va ˈfeːva

Also spelled favour, fava, fayva

To resemble or look like someone. 'Him fayvah him fada' means he looks like his father, and 'di two a dem fayvah' is the two of them look alike. This 'resemble' sense of 'favour' — once common in English but now old-fashioned there — is standard and everyday in Jamaican, and it is the ordinary word for a family likeness or any resemblance. To 'fayvah' someone is simply to have their look, whether in features, build, or bearing.

  • Di baby fayvah him madda.

    The baby looks like his mother.

  • Yuh fayvah yuh granny bad.

    You resemble your grandmother a lot.

  • Dat fayvah rain a come.

    It looks like rain is coming.

    Also used for how a situation appears.

From an older sense of English 'favour' meaning to resemble (as in 'to favour one's father'), kept alive in Jamaican long after it faded elsewhere.

The everyday word for family resemblance. Can also describe how something looks or seems ('it fayvah so').