lover
See also: løver
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English lovere, luffer, lufere, equivalent to love + -er.
Alternative forms
- lovyer (dialectal or obsolete)
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈlʌvɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈlʌvə/
- Hyphenation: lov‧er
- Rhymes: -ʌvə(ɹ)
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
lover (plural lovers)
- One who loves and cares for another person in a romantic way; a sweetheart, love, soulmate, boyfriend, or girlfriend.
- Shakespeare
- Love is blind, and lovers cannot see / The pretty follies that themselves commit.
- Shakespeare
- A sexual partner, especially one with whom someone is having an affair.
- A person who loves something.
- 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 18,
- But tho' a conscientious disciplinarian, he was no lover of authority for mere authority's sake.
- a lover of fine wines
- a lover of his country
- 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 18,
- (West Country, with "my") An informal term of address for any friend.
- All right, me lover?
Synonyms
- (one who loves another person): love, love interest, sweetheart, significant other, see also Thesaurus:lover
- (sexual partner): See Thesaurus:sexual partner
- (person who loves something): connoisseur
- (any friend): See Thesaurus:friend
Derived terms
- book lover, booklover
- loverhood
- lover's lane / lovers' lane
Translations
one who loves another person
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sexual partner
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person who loves something
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Etymology 2
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.
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Synonyms
French
Etymology
A 17th century borrowing from North Sea Germanic language verb "lofen, lufen". The 1986 Dictionnaire de l'Académie française identifies the source as Low German (Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German); Jan de Vries' Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek (which identifies it as a possible cognate of Dutch leuver) suggests East Frisian instead.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /lɔ.ve/
Verb
lover
Conjugation
Conjugation of lover (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| present participle | lovant /lɔ.vɑ̃/ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| past participle | lové /lɔ.ve/ | ||||||
| infinitive | |||||||
| simple | lover | ||||||
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| gerund1 | |||||||
| simple | lovant /lɔ.vɑ̃/ | ||||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | love /lɔv/ |
loves /lɔv/ |
love /lɔv/ |
lovons /lɔ.vɔ̃/ |
lovez /lɔ.ve/ |
lovent /lɔv/ |
| imperfect | lovais /lɔ.vɛ/ |
lovais /lɔ.vɛ/ |
lovait /lɔ.vɛ/ |
lovions /lɔ.vjɔ̃/ |
loviez /lɔ.vje/ |
lovaient /lɔ.vɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | lovai /lɔ.ve/ |
lovas /lɔ.va/ |
lova /lɔ.va/ |
lovâmes /lɔ.vam/ |
lovâtes /lɔ.vat/ |
lovèrent /lɔ.vɛʁ/ | |
| future | loverai /lɔ.vʁe/ |
loveras /lɔ.vʁa/ |
lovera /lɔ.vʁa/ |
loverons /lɔ.vʁɔ̃/ |
loverez /lɔ.vʁe/ |
loveront /lɔ.vʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | loverais /lɔ.vʁɛ/ |
loverais /lɔ.vʁɛ/ |
loverait /lɔ.vʁɛ/ |
loverions /lɔ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ |
loveriez /lɔ.və.ʁje/ |
loveraient /lɔ.vʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | love /lɔv/ |
loves /lɔv/ |
love /lɔv/ |
lovions /lɔ.vjɔ̃/ |
loviez /lɔ.vje/ |
lovent /lɔv/ |
| imperfect2 | lovasse /lɔ.vas/ |
lovasses /lɔ.vas/ |
lovât /lɔ.va/ |
lovassions /lɔ.va.sjɔ̃/ |
lovassiez /lɔ.va.sje/ |
lovassent /lɔ.vas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | love /lɔv/ |
— | lovons /lɔ.vɔ̃/ |
lovez /lɔ.ve/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 Only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
| 2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Further reading
- “lover” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology 1
Alternative forms
Etymology 2
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