love
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: lŭv
ipa: /lʌv/
ipa: /lʌv/
ipa: [läv~lɐv]
ipa: /lʌv/
ipa: [lɘʋ]
ipa: [lɘv]
ipa: /lʊv/
rhymes: -ʌv
Forms: form: loves
form: loue
form: luv
Etymology: From Middle English love, luve, from Old English lufu, from Proto-West Germanic *lubu, from Proto-Germanic *lubō, from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“love, care, desire”).
The close of a letter sense is presumably a truncation of With love or the like.
The verb is from Middle English loven, luvien, from Old English lufian (“to love”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubōn (“to love”), derived from the noun.
Eclipsed non-native English amour (“love”), borrowed from Norman amour (“love”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots luve (“love”), Saterland Frisian ljo, ljoo, ljoof (“dear, sweet”), Ljoote, Ljoowe (“love”), West Frisian leaf (“friendly, kind, cordial”), leafde (“love”), Dutch lief (“lovely, nice, sweet”), liefde (“love”), German lieb (“dear; lovable”), Liebe (“love”), German Low German Leevde, Lieve (“love”), Luxembourgish léif (“lovely, kind, nice, sweet”), Léift (“love”), Vilamovian łiwa (“love”), Yiddish ליב (lib, “nice; kind”), Icelandic ljúfur (“beloved, dear”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish ljuv (“lovely, sweet”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 (liufs, “beloved, dear”), Albanian lyp (“to beg”), Russian любовь (ljubovʹ, “love”), Lithuanian liaupsė (“praise”), Latin libido (“desire, lust”), Polish lubić (“to like”), Persian آلفتن (âloftan, “to enamor”), Sanskrit लोभ (lobha, “desire, greed”).
Senses: glosses: A deep caring for the existence of another.
examples: text: A mother’s love is not easily shaken.
text: My husband’s love is the most important thing in my life.
text: My love for Melca is eternal.
text: He on his side / Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love / Hung over her enamoured.
ref: 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
ref: 2014, S. Hidden, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Mystical Perspectives on the Love of God, →ISBN:
antonyms: hate
hatred
angst
indifference
glosses: Strong affection.
A profound and caring affection towards someone.
examples: text: The love of your neighbor as yourself, is expressly given as the definition and test of Charity,—not alms-giving—and this love is … the highest of all the Divine commands[.]
ref: 1864, Utilitarianism Explained and Exemplified in Moral and Political Government
text: Through nonviolent resistance we shall be able to oppose the unjust system and at the same time love the perpetrators of the system. We must work passionately and unrelentingly for full stature as citizens, but may it never be said, my friends, that to gain it we used the inferior methods of falsehood, malice, hate, and violence.
ref: 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart”, in Strength to Love, New York: Pocket Books, published 1964, →OCLC, page 7:
antonyms: hate
hatred
angst
indifference
glosses: Strong affection.
Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.
examples: text: I have never been in love as much as I have with you.
text: Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, / Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman ſcorn'd.
ref: 1697, [William] Congreve, The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, page 39:
text: The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
antonyms: hate
hatred
angst
indifference
glosses: Strong affection.
A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.
examples: text: My love of cricket knows no bounds.
text: For three decades, the average number of miles driven by US motorists increased steadily. Then, in 2007, that steady climb was suddenly halted. [...] What magic caused Americans to temper their longstanding love of the open road?
ref: 2012, Philip Auerswald, The Coming Prosperity, →ISBN:
antonyms: hate
hatred
angst
indifference
glosses: Strong affection.
A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.
examples: text: Open the temple gates unto my love.
ref: 1595, Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion:
text: O love, dispatch all business, and be gone!
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
text: 'Oh, my love, my love!' she murmured, 'wilt thou ever know how I have loved thee?' and she kissed him on the forehead, and then went and stood in the pathway of the flame of Life.
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
text: I met my love by the gasworks wall.
ref: 1969, The Dubliners, Dirty Old Town:
synonyms: word: baby
word: darling
word: honey
word: lover
word: pet
word: sweetheart
word: babber
word: babe
word: precious
word: bae
word: baby
word: babycakes
word: bubba
word: bully
word: buttercup
word: cabbage
word: chickabiddy
word: chickadee
word: chuck
word: cupcake
word: cutie
word: dag
word: darling
word: dear
word: dear heart
word: dearest
word: dearie
word: dearling
word: doll
word: doodlebug
word: dove
word: duck
word: ducky
word: dumpling
word: fam
word: heart
word: heartface
word: heartling
word: heartmate
word: hinny
word: hon
word: honey
word: honey bun
word: honeybunch
word: honeybug
word: honeybunny
word: honeycakes
word: honeypie
word: jewel
word: jo
word: kidder
word: lambchop
word: lambkin
word: lass (archaic except UK
word: dialectal (chiefly Geordie
word: Wearside)
word: informal or poetic)
word: liefling
word: little one
word: love
word: lovebug
word: loveling
word: lovie
word: luvvy
word: m'dear
word: miting
word: moppet
word: mopsy
word: mouse
word: muffin
word: muss
word: old bean
word: old sport
word: pally
word: pet
word: petal
word: poppet
word: pug
word: pumpkin
word: pussums
word: pussy
word: sausage
word: schnookums
word: shug
word: snicklefritz
word: snookums
word: snuggums
word: squishy
word: sug
word: sugar
word: sugar baby
word: sugar beet
word: sugar-plum
word: sugarpie
word: sweet pea
word: sweetcheeks
word: sweetheart
word: sweetie
word: sweetie pie
word: sweets
word: sweetling
word: treasure
word: woobie
glosses: A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.
examples: text: Hello love, how can I help you?
synonyms: mate
darling
lovey
sweetie
sweetheart
glosses: A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.
examples: text: But it wasn't until [Theresa M. Claiborne] went to ROTC training camp at the University of California at Berkeley that she discovered that flying was her first love. "Pilots talk about getting bit by the flying bug," she says. "I thought, This is heaven."
ref: 1997 March, “Faces of Today's Black Woman”, in Ebony, volume 52, number 5, page 96:
glosses: A thing, activity, etc. which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.
examples: text: The prospect that their cherished Greeks would have countenanced, much less honored, a love between men that expressed itself carnally, however, was not so easily assimilated.
ref: 2013, Ronald Long, Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods, Routledge, →ISBN, page 3:
synonyms: word: aphrodisia
word: carnality
word: aphrodisia
word: carnality
word: colt's tooth
word: concupiscence
word: the hots
word: lech
word: love
word: lust
word: pride
word: urge to merge
glosses: Sexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.
examples: text: —What think you, my lord, of... love?
—You mean ‘rumpy-pumpy’.
ref: 1986, Ben Elton et al., “Bells”, in Blackadder II:
synonyms: word: lovemaking
word: sex
word: aphrodisia
word: carnal knowledge
word: coitus
word: coition
word: commerce
word: commixtion
word: congress
word: conjunction
word: connection
word: consummation
word: conversation
word: copulation
word: coupling
word: intercourse
word: intimacy
word: intimate relations
word: intromission
word: joining
word: lovemaking
word: lustmaking
word: marital embrace
word: mating
word: mounting
raw_tags: for animals
word: pareunia
word: penetration
word: relations
word: sex
word: sexual congress
word: sexual intercourse
word: sexual relation
word: sexual union
word: swiving
word: union
word: the beast with two backs
word: the birds and the bees
word: boom-boom
word: chesterfield rugby
word: horizontal dancing
word: horizontal hula
word: horizontal jogging
word: horizontal mambo
word: horizontal refreshments
word: how's your father
word: love
word: Netflix and chill
word: physical love
word: roll in the hay
word: Ugandan affairs
word: Ugandan discussions
word: action
word: ass
word: bang
word: barney-mugging
word: beef injection
word: bonking
word: cuntfuck
word: fucking
word: frig
word: fucky-fucky
word: hot beef injection
word: hump
word: humpa humpa
word: jig-jig
word: jiggy-jiggy
word: lay
word: legover
word: meat injection
word: nookie
word: old hat
word: pipe
word: plow
word: plough
word: poon
word: poontang
word: punani
word: pussy
word: ride
word: root
word: rumpo
word: rumpy-pumpy
word: seeing-to
word: sexy time
word: sexy times
word: screw
word: screwing
word: shag
word: skin
word: snu snu
word: tang
word: trim
word: hanky-panky
word: funny business
word: making whoopee
word: jiggery-pokery
word: monkey business
word: fooling about
word: fooling around
word: playing around
glosses: Sexual activity.
examples: text: Maybe it was just a summer love, something with no future.
ref: 2014, E. L. Todd, Then Came Absolution, →ISBN:
synonyms: romance
glosses: An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.
glosses: Used as the closing, before the signature, of a letter, especially between good friends or family members, or by the young.
examples: text: At busy hearts in vain love's arrows fly; …
ref: c. 1810, Samuel Johnson (in The Works of Samuel Johnson)
glosses: Alternative letter-case form of Love (“personification of love”).
examples: text: Such a kind of transparency, as that of a Sive, a piece of Cyprus, or a Love-Hood.
ref: 1664, Robert Boyle, Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours, […] :
glosses: A thin silk material.
glosses: A climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.