Amorous

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈæ.mə.ɹəs/

Definitions

1. Feeling or expressing romantic or sexual love and desire
2. Expressing or inclined towards love, particularly in a romantic or sexual manner, often marked by passion or affection
3. Displaying strong feelings of romantic or sexual attraction towards others

Etymology: English took "amorous" from Old French "amoros" and "amoreus" in the 14th century, and the French forms had themselves been shaped by Vulgar Latin "*amōrōsus", a spoken-Latin formation built on the classical "amor" ("love"). Behind that sits the verb "amāre", "to love", which gave Romance languages a whole family of words for affection. The word has a close relative in English that shows how one Latin root split into two paths. "Amoureux", the French word for "in love", and the Italian "amoroso" come from the same source, and English "amorous" is a doublet of both: three words from one ancestor, each carrying the idea into a different language.

Synonyms: loving, romantic, affectionate, passionate, sentimental

Antonyms: unloving, indifferent, cold