In the popular “types of love” framework, playful, non-committal, game-playing love..
In the popular “types of love” framework, playful, non-committal, game-playing love. In actual Latin, ludus means “game, sport, play; school; public games.”
Often listed among the “Greek loves,” but ludus is a Latin word, not Greek. Its meaning as a love-style is a 20th-century coinage, not an ancient concept.
Latin ludus “game, play, school.”
Latin ludus (with verb lūdō), from PIE *leyd- “to play” (possibly Etruscan). Verified on Wiktionary.
Its use as a love-style comes from sociologist John Alan Lee's Colours of Love (1973), where Ludus is one of three primary styles. It was never an ancient Greek “kind of love.”
DISPUTED FRAMING: Ludus is Latin, not Greek, and its “kind of love” meaning is a modern (1973) psychological coinage by John Alan Lee — not part of any classical Greek scheme. Listing it as a “Greek word for love” is incorrect.