prefer Look up prefer at Dictionary.com
1388, "to put forward or advance in rank or fortune, to promote," from L. præferre "place or set before, carry in front," from præ- "before" + ferre "to carry, to place" (see infer). Meaning "to esteem (something) more than others" is recorded from 1390. Original sense in Eng. is preserved in preferment (1451). Preference "act of prefering" is recorded from 1656; sense of "that which one prefers" is from 1864. Preferential is first recorded 1849.