amor (Spanish)
Where does "amor" come from?
The Spanish word 'amor' descends directly from the Latin noun 'amōrem,' which itself is built upon the verb 'amō,' meaning 'to love.' This word's roots stretch back to a Proto-Indo-European term meaning 'to grasp' or 'to seize,' which gradually evolved through a semantic shift from taking someone by the hand to regarding them as a friend, and eventually, to the deep affection we recognize today.
Full etymology tree
- amor (Spanish), 'love'
- inherited amōrem (Latin), 'accusative singular of amor'
- inherited amor (Latin), 'love, affection, devotion (for a person, one's family, one's country)'
- derived amō (Latin), 'to love'
- inherited *amō (Proto-Italic), 'to get hold of'
- inherited *h₃emh₃- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to grab, to grasp, to seize, to take hold, tackle, touch'
- inherited *amō (Proto-Italic), 'to get hold of'
- suffix -or (Latin), 'used to form an abstract noun from a verb root or conceived root form'
- derived amō (Latin), 'to love'
- inherited amor (Latin), 'love, affection, devotion (for a person, one's family, one's country)'
- inherited amōrem (Latin), 'accusative singular of amor'
Ancestors
- amor (Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- amor al uso (Spanish)
- amorcillo (Spanish)
- amorcito (Spanish)
- amor con amor se paga (Spanish)
- amor de hortelano (Spanish)
- amor del Canadá (Spanish)
- amorío (Spanish)
- amor libre (Spanish)
- amor no correspondido (Spanish)
- amoroso (Spanish)
- amor platónico (Spanish)
- amor prohibido (Spanish)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris