Are there languages, in which there is a different word for “like,” for when someone likes someone as a friend and when someone likes someone as in having romantic interest in the person, or similarly a different word for “loving,” someone as a significant other and, “loving” someone in another way?
It seems like in English it can sometimes get a little confusing when talking about liking someone as in some contexts liking someone means liking someone as a friend, or liking someone just as a person, and in other contexts it means having a romantic interest in someone. Similarly loving someone could mean in the romantic sense, but it could also mean loving someone as a friend, or loving someone as a relative, or maybe sometimes just admiring someone, such as loving someone as an actor or actress. Well oftentimes it could be easy to tell based on the context what kind of like or love people mean, but in some cases it could be a bit ambiguous.
So I was wondering if there are languages, in which people might use one type of “like” or ”love” when talking about romantic interest, and a different type when talking about other kinds of like or love?
Posted May 12, 2026, 8:18 AM UTC