汉： 这里的-our与物主代词our没有任何关系，它是拉丁名词后缀-or在中古英语中形式。由于拼法的历史演变，有些名词只能用-or形式，有些两者可通用（英语常用-our，美国常用-or）。但是不管用哪种形式，但是含义都不同于表示人或物的-or。请记住，本文的-our,-or用来表示抽象意义，意为the act,state,quality or characteristics of ～ing（...的行为、状态、性质或特征）。而且，它是个原生词缀，只能与动词词根结合。 英：word-forming element making nouns of quality, state, or condition, from Middle English -our, from Old French -our (Modern French -eur), from Latin -orem (nom. -or), a suffix added to pp. verbal stems. Also in some cases from Latin -atorem (nom. -ator). In U.S., via Noah Webster, -or is nearly universal (but not in glamour, curious, generous), while in Britain -our is used in most cases (but with many exceptions: author, error, senator, ancestor, horror etc.). The -our form predominated after c.1300, but Mencken reports that the first three folios of Shakespeare's plays used both spellings indiscriminately and with equal frequency; only in the Fourth Folio of 1685 does -our become consistent. A partial revival of -or on the Latin model took place from 16c. (governour began to lose its -u- 16c. and it was gone by 19c.), and also among phonetic spellers in both England and America (John Wesley wrote that -or was "a fashionable impropriety" in England in 1791). Webster criticized the habit of deleting -u- in -our words in his first speller ("A Grammatical Institute of the English Language," commonly called the Blue-Black Speller) in 1783. His own deletion of the -u- began with the revision of 1804, and was enshrined in the influential "Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language" (1806), which also established in the U.S. -ic for British -ick and -er for -re, along with many other attempts at reformed spelling which never caught on (e.g. masheen for machine). His attempt to justify them on the grounds of etymology and the custom of great writers does not hold up. Fowler notes the British drop the -u- when forming adjectives ending in -orous (humorous) and derivatives in -ation and -ize, in which cases the Latin origin is respected (e.g. vaporize). When the Americans began to consistently spell it one way, however, the British reflexively hardened their insistence on the other. "The American abolition of -our in such words as honour and favour has probably retarded rather than quickened English progress in the same direction." [Fowler] 下面是-our与-or 通用的几个词例。

1.ardo(u)r [ard = to burn 燃烧；-o(u)r →“有燃烧的性质”→]
n.热情；热烈
ex)He spoke with patriotic ardour. 他带着满腔爱国热情演讲。

2.favo(u)r [fav = to show kindness to 施恩于；-o(u)r →“施恩之行为”→]
n.恩惠，善意的行为
ex)Will you do me a favour?你能帮助我一个忙吗？

3.labo(u)r [lab = to tail 劳作；-o(u)r →“劳作的行为状况”→]
n.劳动；努力；工作
ex)Labour digraces no man. 劳动绝不使人丢脸。

下面几个只能用-or 例子。

1.error [err = to go astray 人歧途；-or →“误入歧途的结果”→]
n.谬误；错误
ex)I failed my test because of errors in spelling. 我考试不及格是因为拼写的错误。

2.horro [horr = to bristle with fear 害怕的，毛发直立；-or →“怕得毛发直立的状态”→]
n.恐怖，战栗；极端厌恶
ex)The crime aroused universal horror. 该犯罪行为引起一片恐怖。

3.temor [trem = to tremble 发抖，震颤；-or →“发抖的状态”→]
n.发抖，震颤;激情；激动
ex)He went about all day in a tremor of delight. 他兴奋得整天难以安定下来。