limerence

English

Alternative forms

• limerance

Etymology

From limer- (“a coined, arbitrary first element”) +‎ -ence. Coined by American psychologist Dorothy Tennov in 1977 as an arbitrary euphonious replacement or alteration of the word amorance.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪməɹəns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

limerence (countable and uncountable, plural limerences)

1. (psychology) An involuntary romantic infatuation with another person, especially combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated. [from 20th c.]

   Antonym: nonlimerence

   • [1977 September 11, Dorothy Tennov, The Observer:

     I first used the term ‘amorance’ then changed it back to ‘limerence’ […]. It has no roots whatsoever. It looks nice. It works well in French. Take it from me it has no etymology whatsoever.]

   • 2003 December 14, Andrew G Marshall, “That crazy little thing called love”, in The Observer‎^[1]:

     When someone is under the spell of limerence, not even being rejected dampens down the madness.

   • 2010, Alyson Schafer, Breaking the Good mom Myth:

     But limerence, lovely as it feels, is a time-limited event—it lasts about five years for most couples.

   • 2024 January 27, Amanda McCracken, “Is It a Crush or Have You Fallen Into Limerence?”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     Limerence is a state of overwhelming and unexpected longing for emotional reciprocation from another human, known as a limerent object (LO), who is often perceived as perfect but unavailable.

   • 2025 September 20, Marielle Segarra, Clare Marie Schneider, Malaka Gharib, quoting Tom Bellamy, “A neuroscientist explains how to break free from romantic infatuation”, in NPR‎^[3], archived from the original on 20 September 2025:

     I hadn't had much interest in limerence until I developed limerence when I didn't want to, when I was happily married.

   • 2025 November 29, Nicole Madigan, quoting Sam Shpall, “‘Desire in one of its rawest forms’: what do we know about limerence?”, in The Guardian‎^[4], →ISSN:

     “[Dorothy] Tennov rejected the view that limerence is inherently unhealthy,” he says. “It’s a distinctive form of human longing, transformative and sometimes destabilising, yes, but not necessarily bad …

Related terms

• limerent
• nonlimerent

Translations

state of mind

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 一往情深 (zh) (yīwǎngqíngshēn), 情深意切 (qíngshēnyìqiè), 情真意切 (qíngzhēnyìqiè), 深情厚意 (zh) (shēnqínghòuyì), 情深似海 (qíngshēnsìhǎi), 情真愛深 / 情真爱深 (qíngzhēn'àishēn), 情深不移 (qíngshēnbùyí), 情深意重 (qíngshēnyìzhòng), 情濃難斷 / 情浓难断 (qíngnóngnánduàn), 情不自勝 / 情不自胜 (qíngbùzìshèng), 情難自禁 / 情难自禁 (qíngnánzìjīn), 情真意摯 / 情真意挚 (qíngzhēnyìzhì), 痴心深情 (chīxīnshēnqíng), 深情癡戀 / 深情痴恋 (shēnqíngchīliàn), 濃情蜜意 / 浓情蜜意 (nóngqíngmìyì), 傾心戀慕 / 倾心恋慕 (qīngxīnliànmù), 傾心愛慕 / 倾心爱慕 (qīngxīn'àimù), 傾心痴戀 / 倾心痴恋 (qīngxīnchīliàn)

• Danish: forelskelse (da)
• Dutch: verliefdheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: enamiĝinteco
• French: limérence (fr) f, limerence (fr) f, limérance f
• German: Verliebtheit (de) f, Limerenz (de) f
• Italian: limerence, ultrattaccamento
• Korean: 리머런스 (rimeoreonseu)
• Macedonian: вљу́беност f (vljúbenost)
• Portuguese: limerence (pt) f, enfatuação f
• Russian: влюблённость (ru) f (vljubljónnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: limerencija
• Spanish: limerencia (es), infatuación (es)
• Swedish: förälskelse (sv) c
• Tagalog: pagkahumaling, pagkahibang

See also

• crush
• infatuation

Further reading

• limerence on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English limerence.

Noun

limerence f (plural limerences)

1. (psychology, rare) limerence (state of mind caused by a romantic attraction)

   Synonym: enfatuação