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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

love.

A deep caring for the existence of another.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈlʌv/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈlʌv]Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɐv/Australia, New-Zealand[ˈlä̝v] ~ [ˈlɐ̞v]Australia, New-Zealand
  1. A deep caring for the existence of another.

    uncountable
  2. Strong affection. A profound and caring affection towards someone.

    countable · uncountable
    A mother’s love is not easily shaken.
    My husband’s love is the most important thing in my life.
  3. Strong affection. Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.

    countable · uncountable
  4. Strong affection. A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.

    countable · uncountable
    I have never been in love as much as I have with you.
  5. Strong affection. A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.

    countable · uncountable
    My love of cricket knows no bounds.
  6. A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.

    countable
  7. A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.

    Commonwealth · colloquial · countable · uncountable
    Hello love, how can I help you?
  8. A thing, activity, etc. which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.

    countable · uncountable
  9. Sexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.

    countable · euphemistic · uncountable
  10. Sexual activity.

    countable · euphemistic · uncountable
  11. An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.

    countable · uncountable
  12. Used as the closing, before the signature, of a letter, especially between good friends or family members, or by the young.

    countable · uncountable
  13. Alternative letter-case form of Love (“personification of love”).

    alt-of · countable · uncountable
  14. A thin silk material.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  15. A climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.

    countable · uncountable
  16. Charity.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰéh₂ Proto-Germanic *lubō Proto-West Germanic *lubu Old English lufu Middle English love English love 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”).

verb/ˈlʌv/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈlʌv]Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɐv/Australia, New-Zealand[ˈlä̝v] ~ [ˈlɐ̞v]Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To have a strong affection for (someone or something).

    intransitive · sometimes · stative · transitive · usually
    I love my spouse. I love you! I love that song!
  2. To need, thrive on.

    transitive
    Mold loves moist, dark places.
  3. To be strongly inclined towards something; an emphatic form of like.

    transitive
    I love walking barefoot on wet grass; I'd love to join the team; I love what you've done with your hair
  4. To seek the good or honor of (someone), care deeply about, to be dedicated to (someone or something).

    intransitive · sometimes · transitive · usually
  5. To derive delight from a fact or situation.

    ironic · sometimes · transitive
    I love the fact that the coffee shop now offers fat-free chai latte.
  6. Synonym of heart (verb).

    Internet
    She loved my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.
  7. To have sex with (perhaps from make love).

    euphemistic · transitive
    I wish I could love her all night long.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Old English lufian Middle English loven English love 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.

noun/ˈlʌv/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈlʌv]Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɐv/Australia, New-Zealand[ˈlä̝v] ~ [ˈlɐ̞v]Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Zero, no score.

    uncountable
    So that’s fifteen-love to Kournikova.
  2. Nothing; no recompense.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-der.? Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwis Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm Proto-Italic *ōw(j)om Classical Latin ōvum Vulgar Latin *ŏvum Old French oef Middle French œuf French l’œuf? English love 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".

verb/ˈlʌv/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈlʌv]Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɐv/Australia, New-Zealand[ˈlä̝v] ~ [ˈlɐ̞v]Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Alternative form of lofe (“to praise, sell”).

    alt-of · alternative
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.