Love
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love¹
- /ˈlʌv/ Canada, US, UK
- [ˈlʌv] Canada, US, UK
- /ˈlɐv/ Australia, New Zealand
- [ˈlä̝v] ~ [ˈlɐ̞v] Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈlʊv/ Ireland, Northern England
- [ˈlʊv] Ireland, Northern England
- /ˈləʋ/ India
- [ˈlɐʊ̯] India
- [ˈlɐʋ] India
Rhymes with -ʌv
Where it 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”).
noun loves · loue · luv
- A deep caring for the existence of another.
- A profound and caring affection towards someone. A mother’s love is not easily shaken.
- 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[.]
- A feeling of intense attraction towards someone. I have never been in love as much as I have with you.
- A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something. My love of cricket knows no bounds.
- A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved. Open the temple gates unto my love.
- A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings. Hello love, how can I help you?
- A 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."
- Sexual 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.
- Sexual activity. —What think you, my lord, of... love? —You mean ‘rumpy-pumpy’.
- An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair. Maybe it was just a summer love, something with no future.
- Used as the closing, before the signature, of a letter, especially between good friends or family members, or by the young.
- Alternative letter-case form of Love (“personification of love”).Love At busy hearts in vain love's arrows fly; …
- A thin silk material. Such a kind of transparency, as that of a Sive, a piece of Cyprus, or a Love-Hood.
- A climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.
- Charity.
love²
- /ˈlʌv/ Canada, US, UK
- [ˈlʌv] Canada, US, UK
- /ˈlɐv/ Australia, New Zealand
- [ˈlä̝v] ~ [ˈlɐ̞v] Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈlʊv/ Ireland, Northern England
- [ˈlʊv] Ireland, Northern England
- /ˈləʋ/ India
- [ˈlɐʊ̯] India
- [ˈlɐʋ] India
Rhymes with -ʌv
Where it 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.
verb loves · loving · loved · love
- To have a strong affection for (someone or something). I love my spouse. I love you! I love that song!
- To need, thrive on. Mold loves moist, dark places.
- To 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
- To 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.
- To derive delight from a fact or situation. I love the fact that the coffee shop now offers fat-free chai latte.
- Synonym of heart (verb). She loved my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.
- To have sex with (perhaps from make love). I wish I could love her all night long.
Similar: cherish, go to bed with, sleep with, care for, cling to, dote, fancy, love
love³
- /ˈlʌv/ Canada, US, UK
- [ˈlʌv] Canada, US, UK
- /ˈlɐv/ Australia, New Zealand
- [ˈlä̝v] ~ [ˈlɐ̞v] Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈlʊv/ Ireland, Northern England
- [ˈlʊv] Ireland, Northern England
- /ˈləʋ/ India
- [ˈlɐʊ̯] India
- [ˈlɐʋ] India
Rhymes with -ʌv
Where it 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".
noun loue · luv
- Zero, no score. So that’s fifteen-love to Kournikova.
- Nothing; no recompense. I fought the white man for less than sixpence. I fought him for love, which is nothing at all.
love⁴
- /ˈlʌv/ Canada, US, UK
- [ˈlʌv] Canada, US, UK
- /ˈlɐv/ Australia, New Zealand
- [ˈlä̝v] ~ [ˈlɐ̞v] Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈlʊv/ Ireland, Northern England
- [ˈlʊv] Ireland, Northern England
- /ˈləʋ/ India
- [ˈlɐʊ̯] India
- [ˈlɐʋ] India
Rhymes with -ʌv
Love⁵
noun
- radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter L.
proper noun Loves
- A surname. Elisheva Baskin and Michael Stein are to be married Sunday evening at the Palisadium, an event space in Cliffside Park, N.J. Rabbi Yaacov Love is to officiate.
- A male given name.
- A female given name.
- Cupid, Eros, or another personification of love. To Hymen's bower young Cupid came, And each with each was quite delighted; Love shot his dart of surest aim, And Hymen's brightest torch was lighted.
- An unincorporated community in Butler County, Kentucky.
LoVe⁶
Where it comes from
Syllabic abbreviation of Logan and Veronica, as a deliberate homophone of love.
proper noun
- The ship of characters Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars from the television show Veronica Mars. The complicated and, for fans, mostly frustrating relationship between these characters is the reason why stories dealing with Spuffy and LoVe pairings are by far more popular than stories based on any other possible ship.