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love

/lʌv/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)[lʌv] (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)/lɐv/ (Australia, New-Zealand)syllables: love
  • noun
  • verb
  • from Old English

A deep caring for the existence of another.

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1 All current definitions

Every sense of “love” in current use, as recorded by Wiktionary. Older and obsolete senses are kept separately.

noun · etymology 1

  1. uncountableA deep caring for the existence of another.
  2. Strong affection.countableuncountableA profound and caring affection towards someone.

    A mother’s love is not easily shaken.

  3. Strong affection.countableuncountableAffectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.

    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[.]1864, Utilitarianism Explained and Exemplified in Moral and Political Government

  4. Strong affection.countableuncountableA feeling of intense attraction towards someone.

    I have never been in love as much as I have with you.

  5. Strong affection.countableuncountableA deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.

    My love of cricket knows no bounds.

  6. countableA person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.

    Open the temple gates unto my love.1595, Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion:

  7. CommonwealthcolloquialcountableuncountableA term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.

    Hello love, how can I help you?

  8. countableuncountableA thing, activity, etc. which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.

    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."1997 March, “Faces of Today's Black Woman”, in Ebony, volume 52, number 5, page 96:

  9. countableeuphemisticuncountableSexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.

    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.2013, Ronald Long, Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods, Routledge, →ISBN, page 3:

  10. countableeuphemisticuncountableSexual activity.

    —What think you, my lord, of... love? —You mean ‘rumpy-pumpy’.1986, Ben Elton et al., “Bells”, in Blackadder II:

  11. countableuncountableAn instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.

    Maybe it was just a summer love, something with no future.2014, E. L. Todd, Then Came Absolution, →ISBN:

  12. countableuncountableUsed as the closing, before the signature, of a letter, especially between good friends or family members, or by the young.
  13. countableuncountableA climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.
Older & obsolete senses (2)
  1. countableobsoleteuncountableA thin silk material.
  2. countableobsoleteuncountableCharity.
Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

verb · etymology 2

  1. intransitivesometimesstativetransitiveusuallyTo have a strong affection for (someone or something).

    I love my spouse. I love you! I love that song!

  2. transitiveTo need, thrive on.

    Mold loves moist, dark places.

  3. transitiveTo be strongly inclined towards something; an emphatic form of like.

    I love walking barefoot on wet grass; I'd love to join the team; I love what you've done with your hair

  4. intransitivesometimestransitiveusuallyTo seek the good or honor of (someone), care deeply about, to be dedicated to (someone or something).

    For God so loued þe world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 3:16:

  5. ironicsometimestransitiveTo derive delight from a fact or situation.

    I love the fact that the coffee shop now offers fat-free chai latte.

  6. InternetSynonym of heart (verb).

    She loved my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.

  7. euphemistictransitiveTo have sex with (perhaps from make love).

    I wish I could love her all night long.

Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

noun · etymology 3

  1. uncountableZero, no score.

    So that’s fifteen-love to Kournikova.

  2. uncountableNothing; no recompense.

    I fought the white man for less than sixpence. I fought him for love, which is nothing at all.1916, H. Rider Haggard, The Ivory Child:

Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
Cross-check: WordNet senses (10)
  1. nouna strong positive emotion of regard and affection
  2. nounany object of warm affection or devotion — also: passion
  3. nouna beloved person; used as terms of endearment — also: beloved, dear, dearest, honey
  4. nouna deep feeling of sexual desire and attraction — also: sexual love, erotic love
  5. nouna score of zero in tennis or squash
  6. nounsexual activities (often including sexual intercourse) between two people — also: sexual love, lovemaking, making love, love life
  7. verbhave a great affection or liking for
  8. verbget pleasure from — also: enjoy
  9. verbbe enamored or in love with
  10. verbhave sexual intercourse with — also: sleep together, roll in the hay, make out, make love, sleep with
Princeton WordNet 3.0 — WordNet License

Synonyms: adore, cherish, enjoy, go to bed with, sleep with, care for, cling to, dote, fancy, love

Antonyms: hate, despise, fear

Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

2 History of the word

The etymology, the path the word travelled, and the words built from it.

Etymology 1 (noun)

The word’s journey, newest to oldest:

  1. English (today)love
  2. Middle Englishlove
  3. Old Englishlufu
  4. Proto-West Germanic*lubu
  5. Proto-Germanic*lubō
  6. Proto-Indo-European*lewbʰ- “love, care, desire”

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.

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”).

Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

Etymology 2 (verb)

The word’s journey, newest to oldest:

  1. English (today)love
  2. Middle Englishloven
  3. Old Englishlufian “to love”
  4. Proto-West Germanic*lubōn “to love”
  5. Proto-West Germanicthe

The verb sense is from Middle English loven, luvien, from Old English lufian (“to love”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubōn (“to love”), derived from the noun.

Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

Etymology 3 (noun)

Now widely believed (due to historical written record) to be from the idea that when one does a thing “for love” it is for no monetary gain, the word “love” thus implying “nothing”. Use of “love” for having no score extends to the 18th century in tennis as well as certain card games.

The former assumption that it had originated from French l’œuf (literally “the egg”), due to its shape, has largely been discredited and is no longer widely accepted. However, the apparent similarity of the shape of an egg to a zero has inspired similar analogies, such as the use of duck (reputed to be short for duck's egg) for a zero score at cricket, and goose egg for "zero".

Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

Derivatives — words built from “love”

all-lovingantilovebeloveboylovechildlovecyberloveforelovegirlloveinstalovelack-loveladyloveleaflovelight-o'-lovelovabilityloveaholiclove-aholiclove-beadlovebeadlovebirdlove-bitelovebitelove-bombinglove-bomblovebotlovebudlovebuglovebunnylove-childlovechildlovedaylovedomloved-uploveelove-featlovefestlovefullove-hairlove-handledlove-hatelove-hatred

Phrases & compounds

all is fair in love and warall's fair in love and warapple of lovearrow of loveboys' loveboy's lovebrotherly lovecalf lovecastle of lovecat's lovecourtly lovecupboard lovedeclaration of lovedo you love meeverything is fair in love and warface only a mother could loveface that only a mother could lovefalling in lovefall in lovefall out of love

Related terms

lovluvwuvcharityfall in loverevere
Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

Want to go deeper? See also “love” on Etymonline ↗

3 Original language

Where “love” came from before it was English.

Etymology 1 (noun)

Native English word, from
Old English
Old English lufu
Deepest root (reconstructed)
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- “love, care, desire”

Etymology 2 (verb)

Native English word, from
Old English
Old English lufian “to love”
Deepest root (reconstructed)
Proto-West Germanic
Proto-West Germanic the

Etymology 3 (noun)

The source does not trace this sense to an earlier language.

Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

4 Original meaning

What the word meant at the oldest point the record reaches.

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root
“love, care, desire”
Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- — rebuilt by linguists from its descendants; never written down.
Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

Historical meaning — Webster’s 1913

A historical record, labelled as such: some of these senses are dated or have since shifted.

love n. [OE. love, luve, AS. lufe, lufu; akin to E. lief, believe, L. lubet, libet, it pleases, Skr. lubh to be lustful. See Lief.]

  1. A feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration; preas, the love of brothers and sisters.
  2. Especially, devoted attachment to, or tender or passionate affection for, one of the opposite sex.
  3. Courtship; -- chiefly in the phrase to make love, i. e., to court, to woo, to solicit union in marriage.
  4. Affection; kind feeling; friendship; strong liking or desire; fondness; good will; -- opposed to hate; often with of and an object.

love v. t. [AS. lufian. Love, n.]

  1. To have a feeling of love for; to regard with affection or good will; as, to love one's children and friends; to love one's country; to love one's God.
  2. To regard with passionate and devoted affection, as that of one sex for the other.
  3. To take delight or pleasure in; to have a strong liking or desire for, or interest in; to be pleased with; to like; as, to love books; to love adventures.

love v. i.

  1. To have the feeling of love; to be in love.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), public domain, via GCIDE

5 Use it with confidence

Model sentences from the sources, matched to the meaning they show. Read each one aloud, then make your own in the game.

nounMeaning: A profound and caring affection towards someone.

A mother’s love is not easily shaken.

My husband’s love is the most important thing in my life.

nounMeaning: Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.

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[.]1864, Utilitarianism Explained and Exemplified in Moral and Political Government

nounMeaning: A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.

I have never been in love as much as I have with you.

nounMeaning: A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.

My love of cricket knows no bounds.

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?2012, Philip Auerswald, The Coming Prosperity, →ISBN:

nounMeaning: A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.

Open the temple gates unto my love.1595, Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion:

O love, dispatch all business, and be gone!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,

nounMeaning: A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.

Hello love, how can I help you?

nounMeaning: a strong positive emotion of regard and affection

his love for his work

children need a lot of love

nounMeaning: any object of warm affection or devotion

the theater was her first love

nounMeaning: a deep feeling of sexual desire and attraction

their love left them indifferent to their surroundings

she was his first love

nounMeaning: a score of zero in tennis or squash

it was 40 love

Princeton WordNet 3.0 — WordNet License
Wiktionary: “love” (via kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0

Three steps to owning it

  1. Pick one meaning above and read its model sentence out loud.
  2. Say who or what the word is about in your own life, then build a sentence around that.
  3. Check it against the definition: would a careful reader understand exactly that meaning?

6 The mastery game

Play it here, or print it and do it with pen and paper. At the end you will know the meanings, history, origin and original meaning — and you will have used the word yourself.

Step 1 of 10

Say it, then spell it

love

/lʌv/ · love

Say the word out loud three times, slowly. Notice the stressed syllable. When you are ready, hide it and spell it from memory.

Activate Words · Word-mastery worksheet · Name: ______________________ Date: __________

love

/lʌv/ · love · noun, verb

Step 1 — Say it and write it

Say “love” out loud three times. Then cover the word and write it three times from memory.

Step 2 — Know every meaning

Read each definition. Then write it again in your own words.

1. (noun) A deep caring for the existence of another.
2. (noun) A profound and caring affection towards someone.
3. (noun) Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.
4. (noun) A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.
5. (noun) A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.

Step 3 — Which meaning is it?

“A mother’s love is not easily shaken.”

A. A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.
B. A profound and caring affection towards someone.
C. A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.

Circle the meaning used.

“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[.]”

A. Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.
B. A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.
C. A deep caring for the existence of another.

Circle the meaning used.

“I have never been in love as much as I have with you.”

A. A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.
B. A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.
C. A profound and caring affection towards someone.

Circle the meaning used.

Step 4 — History and origin

Which language did “love” come into English from?   A. Old French  B. Old English  C. Anglo-Norman  D. Ancient Greek

Write the word’s journey back in time (each language and form):

Write three words built from “love” and what each means:

Step 5 — Original meaning

The earliest traceable form is Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-. What did it mean?

How does that original meaning connect to the meanings today?

Step 6 — Use it yourself

Write a sentence using “love” to mean: A deep caring for the existence of another.
Write a sentence using “love” to mean: A profound and caring affection towards someone.
Write a sentence using “love” to mean: Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.

☐ I can explain its meanings   ☐ I know its history   ☐ I know its original language   ☐ I know its original meaning   ☐ I can use it confidently

Answer key — love

Which meaning, sentence 1: B. A profound and caring affection towards someone.

Which meaning, sentence 2: A. Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.

Which meaning, sentence 3: B. A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.

Origin: B. Old English (Old English lufu)

Journey: English love ← Middle English love ← Old English lufu ← Proto-West Germanic *lubu ← Proto-Germanic *lubō ← Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-

Some derivatives: all-loving, antilove, belove, boylove, childlove, cyberlove, forelove, girllove

Original meaning: Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- — “love, care, desire”

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”).

Sources: Wiktionary “love” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/love#English), CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org; Princeton WordNet 3.0; Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913, public domain) via GCIDE. Worksheet from https://activatewords.com/w/love