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love

Pronunciation: /ˈlʌv/

The English word “love” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A deep caring for the existence of another.
  2. A profound and caring affection towards someone.
  3. Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.
  4. A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.
  5. A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.
  6. A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.
  7. A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.
  8. A thing, activity, etc. which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.
  9. Sexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.
  10. Sexual activity.
  11. An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.
  12. Used as the closing, before the signature, of a letter, especially between good friends or family members, or by the young.
  13. A thin silk material.
  14. A climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.
  15. Charity.

verb

  1. To have a strong affection for (someone or something).
  2. To need, thrive on.
  3. To be strongly inclined towards something; an emphatic form of like.
  4. To seek the good or honor of (someone), care deeply about, to be dedicated to (someone or something).
  5. To derive delight from a fact or situation.

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. Eclipsed non-native English amour (“love”), borrowed from Norman amour (“love”). Cognates Cognate with Scots luve (“love”), Saterland Frisian ljo,…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.