Let's explore the origin of this word, what it means, how to spell "Love" 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 Every Language
Love: Etymology and Meaning
How to Say Love in Different Languages
Love is one of the most universal human feelings, and every language has its own word for it. From the Romance amor to the Japanese 愛 (ai) and the Swahili upendo, the word for love reveals a little about each culture that shaped it. This guide from SPRACHCAFFE shows you how to say and write love in over 90 languages, where the English word comes from, and how to say "I love you" in the world's major languages.
Love: origin and meaning
The English word love comes from the Proto-Germanic lubō and the Proto-Indo-European root leubh-, meaning "to care, desire, or love." The same Germanic root gives German Liebe and Dutch liefde. The Romance words for love, Spanish and Portuguese amor, Italian amore, and French amour, come instead from the Latin amor and the verb amāre, "to love."
As a feeling, love covers a wide range: the bond between partners, the affection of parents for their children, deep friendship, devotion, and passion for a cause or an art. What these senses share is a strong feeling of unconditional affection, which is why almost every culture has given it a central word.
Love in the most common languages
| Language | Love |
|---|---|
| Spanish | amor |
| French | amour |
| German | Liebe |
| Italian | amore |
| Portuguese | amor |
| Dutch | liefde |
| Russian | любовь (lyubov') |
| Mandarin Chinese | 爱 (ài) |
| Japanese | 愛 (ai) |
| Korean | 사랑 (sarang) |
| Arabic | حب (ḥubb) |
| Hindi | प्यार (pyaar) |
| Turkish | aşk |
| Greek | αγάπη (agápi) |
| Swahili | upendo |
Which languages have the most speakers?
There are just under 7,000 living languages in the world. According to Ethnologue's 2022 ranking of the most spoken languages by total speakers, the top ten are English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, and Urdu. English leads with roughly 1.5 billion speakers, followed by Mandarin Chinese with over a billion, and Hindi with more than 600 million.
Here is how love is written in those ten languages: English love, Mandarin 爱 (ài), Hindi प्यार (pyaar), Spanish amor, French amour, Arabic حب (ḥubb), Bengali ভালবাসা (bhalobasha), Russian любовь (lyubov'), Portuguese amor, and Urdu محبت (mohabbat).
Love in every language: full list
| Language | Love |
| Afrikaans | liefde |
| Albanian | dashuri |
| Amharic | ፍቅር |
| Arabic | حب |
| Armenian | սեր |
| Assamese | ভালপোৱা |
| Aymara | munaña |
| Azerbaijani | sevgi |
| Bambara | kanu |
| Basque | maitasuna |
| Belarusian | каханне |
| Bengali | ভালবাসা |
| Bhojpuri | प्यार |
| Bosnian | ljubav |
| Bulgarian | любов |
| Catalan | amor |
| Cebuano | gugma |
| Chichewa | chikondi |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 爱 |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 愛 |
| Corsican | amore |
| Croatian | ljubav |
| Czech | láska |
| Danish | kærlighed |
| Dhivehi | ލޯބި |
| Dogri | हिरख |
| Dutch | liefde |
| English | love |
| Esperanto | amo |
| Estonian | armastus |
| Ewe | lɔ̃lɔ̃ |
| Filipino | pag-ibig |
| Finnish | rakkaus |
| French | amour |
| Frisian | leafde |
| Galician | amor |
| Georgian | სიყვარული |
| German | Liebe |
| Greek | αγάπη |
| Guarani | mborayhu |
| Gujarati | પ્રેમ |
| Haitian Creole | renmen |
| Hausa | soyayya |
| Hawaiian | aloha |
| Hebrew | אהבה |
| Hindi | प्यार |
| Hmong | kev hlub |
| Hungarian | szerelem |
| Icelandic | ást |
| Igbo | ịhụnanya |
| Ilocano | ayat |
| Indonesian | cinta |
| Irish | grá |
| Italian | amore |
| Japanese | 愛 |
| Javanese | tresna |
| Kannada | ಪ್ರೀತಿ |
| Kazakh | махаббат |
| Khmer | ស្នេហា |
| Kinyarwanda | urukundo |
| Konkani | मोग |
| Korean | 사랑 |
| Krio | lɔv |
| Kurdish (Kurmanji) | evîn |
| Kurdish (Sorani) | خۆشەویستی |
| Kyrgyz | сүйүү |
| Lao | ຮັກ |
| Latvian | mīlestība |
| Lingala | bolingo |
| Lithuanian | meilė |
| Luganda | okwagala |
| Luxembourgish | léift |
| Macedonian | љубов |
| Maithili | प्रेम |
| Malagasy | fitiavana |
| Malay | cinta |
| Malayalam | സ്നേഹം |
| Maltese | imħabba |
| Māori | aroha |
| Marathi | प्रेम |
| Mizo | hmangaihna |
| Mongolian | хайр |
| Nepali | माया |
| Norwegian | kjærlighet |
| Odia | ପ୍ରେମ |
| Oromo | jaalala |
| Pashto | مینه |
| Persian | عشق |
| Polish | miłość |
| Portuguese | amor |
| Punjabi | ਪਿਆਰ |
| Quechua | kuyay |
| Romanian | dragoste |
| Russian | любовь |
| Samoan | alofa |
| Sanskrit | स्नेह (sneha) |
| Scottish Gaelic | gaol |
| Serbian | љубав |
| Sepedi | lerato |
| Sesotho | lerato |
| Shona | rudo |
| Sindhi | پيار |
| Sinhala | ආදරය |
| Slovak | láska |
| Slovenian | ljubezen |
| Somali | jacayl |
| Spanish | amor |
| Sundanese | cinta |
| Swahili | upendo |
| Swedish | kärlek |
| Tajik | ишқ |
| Tamil | அன்பு |
| Tatar | мәхәббәт |
| Telugu | ప్రేమ |
| Thai | รัก (rák) |
| Tigrinya | ፍቅሪ |
| Tsonga | rirhandzu |
| Turkish | aşk |
| Turkmen | söýgi |
| Ukrainian | любов |
| Urdu | محبت |
| Uyghur | مۇھەببەت |
| Uzbek | sevgi |
| Vietnamese | tình yêu |
| Welsh | cariad |
| Xhosa | uthando |
| Yiddish | ליבע |
| Yoruba | ìfẹ́ |
| Zulu | uthando |
How to say “I love you” in major languages
| Language | I love you |
|---|---|
| Spanish | te quiero / te amo |
| French | je t'aime |
| German | ich liebe dich |
| Italian | ti amo |
| Portuguese | eu te amo |
| Mandarin Chinese | 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ) |
| Japanese | 愛してる (aishiteru) |
| Korean | 사랑해 (saranghae) |
| Russian | я тебя люблю (ya tebya lyublyu) |
| Arabic | أحبك (uḥibbuka / uḥibbuki) |
| Hindi | मैं तुमसे प्यार करता हूँ (main tumse pyaar karta hoon) |
| Greek | σ' αγαπώ (s'agapó) |
| Turkish | seni seviyorum |
| Swahili | nakupenda |
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