lover

See also løver

English

Alternative forms

• lovyer (dialectal or obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English lover, lovyere, derivative of loven, lovien (“to love”), equivalent to love +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /ˈlʌvɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌvə(r)

Noun

lover (plural lovers)

1. A person who deeply and strongly loves and cares for another person in a romantic way, a sweetheart, love, soul-mate, boyfriend, or girlfriend.
2. A sexual partner.
3. A person who truly and deeply loves something; connoisseur.

Synonyms

• love
• love interest
• sweetheart
• significant other
• (person who loves something): connoisseur
• See also Wikisaurus:lover
• See also Wikisaurus:sexual partner

Derived terms

• lovers lane / lover's lane / lovers' lane

Translations

person who strongly and truly loves another person

• Alviri-Vidari: عاشوق (āššuq)
• Arabic: عاشق (ar) (3aashiq) m, محب (ar) (muHibb) m, عشيق (ar) (3ashiiq)
• Armenian: սիրահար (hy) (sirahar)
• Catalan: amant (ca) m and f
• Cebuano: uyab (ceb)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 戀人 (cmn), 恋人 (cmn) (liànrén), 情人 (cmn) (qíngrén), 愛人 (cmn), 爱人 (cmn) (àiren)

• Crimean Tatar: sevgili (crh), (northern dialect) süygili (crh)
• Dutch: minnaar (nl) m, minnares (nl) f
• Esperanto: amanto (eo), amantino (eo)
• Finnish: rakastaja (fi)
• French: amoureux (fr) m
• Galician: amador (gl) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Geliebter (de) m, Geliebte (de) f
• Greek: εραστής (el) (erastís) m, ερωμένη (el) (eroméni) f
• Hungarian: szerető (hu)
• Italian: amante (it) m and f
• Japanese: 恋人 (ja) (koibito)
• Korean: 애인 (ko) (ae-in) (愛人 (ko))

• Latin: amāns (la) m and f
• Maori: whakaaweawe (mi)
• Novial: amante (nov)
• Old Provençal: amador m
• Persian: عاشق (fa) ('âšeq), دوستدار (fa) (doostdar), خاطرخواه (fa) (khater-khah), دلداده (fa) (deldâde)
• Portuguese: amante (pt) m and f
• Romanian: iubit (ro) m, iubită (ro) f
• Russian: любовник (ru) (ljubóvnik) m, любовница (ru) (ljubóvnica) f, влюблённый (ru) (vljubljónnyj) m, влюблённая (ru) (vljubljónnaja) f, возлюбленный (ru) (vozljúblennyj) m, возлюбленная (ru) (vozljúblennaja) f
• Scottish Gaelic: leannan (gd) m, gràdh (gd) m, cuspair (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: ljubavnik (sh) m, ljubavnica (sh) f, švaler (sh) m, švalerka (sh) f
• Slovak: milenec (sk) m, milenka (sk) f
• Slovene: ljubimec (sl) m
• Spanish: amante (es) m and f, enamorado (es) m, enamorada (es) f
• Swahili: mpenzi (sw)
• Swedish: älskare (sv) m, älskarinna (sv) f, älskande (sv) c
• Telugu: ప్రియుడు (te) (priyuDu) (male), ప్రియురాలు (te) (pryuraalu) (female)
• Tok Pisin: pren (tpi)
• Vietnamese: người yêu (vi) (𠊛𢞅 (vi))

sexual partner

• Arabic: عاشق (ar) (3aashiq) m, محب (ar) (muHibb) m, عشيق (ar) (3ashiiq)
• Armenian: սիրած (hy) (siraç), սիրեկան (hy) (sirekan) (male), սիրուհի (hy) (siruhi) (female)
• Catalan: amant (ca) m and f, amistançat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 情人 (cmn) (qíngrén)

• Czech: milenec (cs) m, milenka (cs) f
• Danish: elsker (da) m, elskerinde (da) f
• French: amant (fr) m
• Galician: amante (gl) m and f, amigo (gl) m, querido (gl) m
• German: Liebhaber (de) m
• Greek: εραστής (el) (erastís) m, ερωμένη (el) (eroméni) f, αγαπητικός (el) (agapitikós) m, αγαπητικιά (el) (agapitikiá)

• Hungarian: szerető (hu)
• Italian: amante (it) m and f
• Japanese: 愛人 (ja) (あいじん, aijin)
• Korean: 애인 (ko) (ae-in) (愛人 (ko))
• Latin: amāns (la)
• Polish: kochanek (pl) m, kochanka (pl) f
• Portuguese: amante (pt) m and f
• Russian: любовник (ru) (ljubóvnik) m, любовница (ru) (ljubóvnica) f
• Serbo-Croatian: љубавник (sh) (ljubavnik) m
• Spanish: amante (es) m and f
• Swahili: mpenzi (sw)
• Vietnamese: người tình (vi) bạn tình (vi) (𠊛𢞅 (vi))

person who really loves or likes something at lot or very much

• Arabic: مغرم (ar)
• Armenian: սիրահար (hy) (sirahar)
• Asturian: amante (ast) m and f
• Bulgarian: любовник (bg) (liubovnik) n
• Catalan: amant (ca) m and f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愛好者 (cmn), 爱好者 (cmn) (àihàozhě)

• Czech: milovník (cs) m, milovnice (cs) f
• Galician: amante (gl) m and f, amador (gl) m
• German: Kenner (de) m
• Greek: λάτρης (el) (látris) m and f, θαυμαστής (el) (thavmastís) m

• Italian: amante (it) m and f
• Japanese: 愛好家 (ja) (あいこうか, aikōka)
• Persian: عاشق (fa) ('âšeq)
• Polish: miłośnik (pl) m, miłośniczka (pl) f
• Russian: любитель (ru) (ljubítel') m, любительница (ru) (ljubítel'nica) f
• Serbo-Croatian: љубитељ (sh) (ljubitelj) m
• Swahili: mpenzi (sw)
• Telugu: ప్రేమికుడు (te) (praemikuDu) (male), ప్రేమికురాలు (te) (praemikuraalu) (female)

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch lover, originally the plural of loof. As with other words with plurals in -er, eventually this was substituted with -eren, creating loveren. This new plural was then reanalysed as a separate noun and a new singular form lover was back-formed from it.

Noun

lover n (plural lovers, diminutive lovertje)

1. foliage

Synonyms

• gebladerte

Anagrams

• vloer

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French

Etymology

The 1986 Dictionnaire de l'Académie française describes this word as a 17th century borrowing from a Low German (Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German) verb "lofen, lufen", although this is historically implausible.

Jan de Vries mentions this word in his Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek as a possible cognate of Dutch leuver; he derives the French word from an East Frisian verb "lofen, lufen".

Pronunciation

• IPA: /lɔve/

Verb

lover

1. to coil (a rope or cord)
2. (reflexive, of a snake) to coil up, wind up; to curl up

Conjugation

   Conjugation of lover (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		lover			avoir lové
gerund		en lovant			en ayant lové
present participle		lovant
past participle		lové
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	love	loves	love	lovons	lovez	lovent
	imperfect	lovais	lovais	lovait	lovions	loviez	lovaient
	past historic1	lovai	lovas	lova	lovâmes	lovâtes	lovèrent
	future	loverai	loveras	lovera	loverons	loverez	loveront
	conditional	loverais	loverais	loverait	loverions	loveriez	loveraient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	love	loves	love	lovions	loviez	lovent
	imperfect1	lovasse	lovasses	lovât	lovassions	lovassiez	lovassent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	love	—	lovons	lovez	—
1literary tenses

Anagrams

• voler

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Middle English

Noun

lover (plural lovers)

1. lover