paramour
Meanings
- A person who is the object of one's love, especially in an affair or romance; a lover; also, a sexual partner.
- A person (especially someone who is not one's spouse) with whom one has an illicit or secret affair; also (Scotland, US, law), one with whom a married person has an adulterous affair.
- A woman who is the object of a knight's love, and who he fights for.
- God as the object of a person's devotion or love.
- To have an illicit or secret affair with a person, especially someone who is not one's spouse.
- Of loving, etc.: out of or through romantic feeling or sexual desire; passionately.
- Used chiefly when addressing someone: out of or through devotion or kindness; as a favour or kindness.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
The adverb is derived from Middle English par amour, paramore, paramours (“with sexual desire or love, passionately; in a courteous or friendly manner”), from Anglo-Norman par amur (“in a friendly or willing manner”) and Old French par amur, par amour, paramours (“by or through love”) (modern French par amour), from par (“by; through; etc.”) (from Latin per (“by means of, through”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; etc.”)) + amor, amur (“love”, noun) (from Latin amōrem, the accusative singular of amor (“desire, lust; affection, love”), from amō (“to love”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- (“to grasp, seize; to take hold; to touch; etc.”)) + -or (suffix forming abstract nouns)). The noun is from Middle English paramour, paramoure, paramur, peramour (“wife; concubine; mistress; husband; male lover; darling, sweetheart; romantic love; sexual passion; (Christianity) Jesus Christ; the Virgin Mary; divine or spiritual love”), from par amour, paramore (adverb) (see above), possibly from a misinterpretation of to love paramour(s) (“to love passionately”) to mean “to love a beloved person”. The verb is partly from both of the following: * From Middle English paramouren (“to love (someone)”), probably derived from the adverb (see above). The Middle English word is only attested in one (possibly 15th-century) source and does not appear to have been used again until the 17th century; compare William Shakespeare's use of out-paramour in King Lear (written c. 1603–1606): see the 1608 quotation. * Uses from the 17th century onwards are probably derived from the noun.