Passionate, intense, predominantly sexual or romantic love and desire..
Passionate, intense, predominantly sexual or romantic love and desire. In Plato, reframed as desire for beauty that can ascend toward ideal Beauty itself (the root of “platonic love”).
Driven by desire and attraction, unlike philia (affection between equals) or storge (familial affection). Unlike agape, it does not require selfless, reciprocity-free giving.
ἔρως (érōs); related verb ἐράω, “to desire, love passionately.”
From Ancient Greek ἔρως, cognate with the god Eros (Roman Cupid).
Liddell-Scott glosses it as “love, mostly of sexual passion.” Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus elevate it into desire for transcendent beauty. Gives English “erotic”; Modern Greek erotas means intimate love.
One of five genuinely attested Ancient Greek love terms. See any Greek-love entry's note on the popular “8 loves” framework.