Let's explore the origin of this word, what it means, how to spell "amore" in all languages , and finally how to pronounce it. To further your study of a foreign language, such as English, French, German, or Spanish, we recommend browsing our catalog of courses.
How to Say “Love” in Different Languages Around the World
Love: Etymology and Meaning
The word "love" may derive from the Sanskrit word "kama," which refers to desire, attraction, and passion, just as the verb "amare" could mean "to ardently and totally desire." However, a second hypothesis holds that the word "amore" originates from "mao," the Greek verb from which the Latin "amor" derives.
This verb indicates a purely physical attraction, as opposed to the mental attraction of the Latin verb "diligere." Finally, a final interpretation suggests that the word "amore" may derive from the Latin "a-mors," meaning "without death." This would indicate an eternal, immortal, and all-encompassing feeling.
While the origin of the word is uncertain, its meaning is now fairly clear. The word "love" is used to describe a feeling, a deep affection for someone or something. This is a broad definition, which can be applied differently to different situations.
When referring to a relationship, for example, love is the feeling that binds two people, united by respect and trust, a unique feeling of warmth and connection created with that particular partner. However, since there is no clear-cut definition of "love," the explanation of the feeling can vary from person to person.
Let's not forget that "love" also includes the affection of parents for their children, admiration for someone, the complete altruism and generosity that characterize those who live to help others, but also total devotion to a deity, a boundless passion for something, and, finally, sexual attraction.
The definitions of "love" are numerous, but they all have in common a strong feeling of unconditional affection.
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How Do You Say Love in All Languages?
There are currently just under 7,000 languages in the world. Some, however, are more widespread and therefore spoken by a greater number of people, such as Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, while others are at risk of disappearing within a few years. In 2022, Ethnologue, a leading source of language data, published a ranking of the most spoken languages by various peoples. The top 10 are English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, and Urdu. If you're wondering how to say "love" in these languages, it's easy to find out.
Let's start with one of the world's most famous translations, "love," in English. English is spoken by approximately 1.5 billion people, making it the most famous and widely spoken language today. In second place, as we've just seen, is Mandarin Chinese, with over a billion speakers. The word "love" in Chinese is written 爱 and pronounced "ài." At the bottom of the podium is Hindi, with over 600 million speakers. You can write "love" in Hindi with the symbol प्यार and pronounce it "pyaar."
The ranking continues with Spanish, whose translation for "love" is the same as the Portuguese one, which is "amor." In French, however, you must use the word "amour." In Arabic, "love" is written حب and pronounced "ḥubb." If you want to say "love" in Bengali, you can use the word ভালবাসা, which is pronounced "bhālabāsā." Finally, at the bottom of Ethnologue's list of the most spoken languages, we find Russian and Urdu. The word "love" in Russian is written любовь and pronounced "lyubov'," while in Urdu the word is کيوپڈ, which is pronounced "kiyopid." Read on to find out how the word " love" is translated in all languages .
Love in All the Languages of the World: Translation
In the previous paragraphs, we discussed the etymology of "amore," its origins and meaning, and we saw how this term is translated into some of the major languages. Let's now look in detail at how the word "amore" is pronounced in all the world's languages , keeping in mind that the translation may vary depending on the specific meaning given to the word.
Afrikaans - liefde
Albanian - dashuri
Amharic - ፍቅር
Arabic - حب
Armenian - Սեր
Assamese - ভালপোৱা
Aymara - munaña
Azerbaijani - sevgi
Bambara - kanu
Basque - maitasuna
Bengali - ভালবাসা
Bhojpuri - प्यार
Belarusian - каханне
Burmese - အချစ်
Bosnian - ljubav
Bulgarian - любов
Catalan - love
Cebuano - gugma
Czech - milovat
Chichewa - chikondi
Kirghiz - сүйүү
Chinese (Simplified) - 爱
Chinese (Traditional) - 愛
Korean - 사랑
Course - love
Haitian Creole - renmen
Croatian - ljubav
Kurdish (kurmanji) - evîn
Kurdish (Sorani) - خۆشەویستی
Danish - elsker
Dhivehi - ލޯބި
Dogri - हिरख
Hebrew - אהבה
Esperanto - I love
Estonian - armastus
Ewe - lɔ̃
Filipino - pag-ibig
Finnish - rakkaus
French - amour
Frisian - leafde
Scottish Gaelic - gaol
Galician - love
Welsh - cariad
Georgian - სიყვარული
Japanese - 愛
Javanese - tresna
Greek - αγάπη
Guarani - mborayhu
Gujarati - પ્રેમ
Hausa - soyayya
Hawaiian - aloha
Hindi - प्यार
Hmong - kev hlub
Igbo - ihunanya
Ilocano - ayat
Indonesian - belt
English - love
Irish - grá
Icelandic - ást
Italian - love
Kannada - ಪ್ರೀತಿ
Kazakh - махаббат
Khmer - ស្នេហា
Kinyarwanda - urukundo
Konkani - मोग
Krio - lɔv
Lao - ຮັກ
Latvian - mīlestība
Lingala - bolingo
Lithuanian - meilė
Luganda - Okwagala
Luxembourgish - Léift
Macedonian - љубов
Maithili - प्रेम
Malayalam - സ്നേഹം
Malay - belt
Malagasy - fitiavana
Maltese - imħabba
Māori - aroha
Marathi - प्रेम
Mizo - hmangaihna
Mongolian - хайр
Nepali - माया
Norwegian - kjærlighet
Odia (oriya) - ପ୍ରେମ
Dutch - liefde
Oromo - jaalala
Pashto - مینه
Persian - عشق
Polish - miłość
Portuguese - love
Punjabi - ਪਿਆਰ
Quechua - kuyay
Romanian - dragoste
Russian - любовь
Samoan - alofa
Sanskrit - स्नेहः
Sepedi - lerato
Serbian - љубав
Sesotho - lerato
Shona - rough
Sindhi - پيار
Sinhalese - ආදරය
Slovak - láska
Slovenian - ljubezen
Somali - jacayl
Spanish - love
Sundanese - belt
Swedish - kärlek
Swahili - upendo
Tajik - ишк
Tamil - அன்பு
Tatar - мәхәббәт
German - Liebe
Telugu - ప్రేమ
Thai - รัก
Tigrinya - ፍቅሪ
Tsonga - rirhandzu
Turkish - Aşk
Turkmen - söýgi
Ukrainian - любов
Uyghur - مۇھەببەت
Hungarian - szerelem
Urdu - کيوپڈ
Uzbek - sevgi
Vietnamese - yêu và quý
Xhosa - uthando
Yiddish - ליבע
Yoruba - hyphae
Zulu - uthando
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