恋する
Meaning in Englishto fall in love with, to love
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
What does 恋する mean? It denotes falling in love or being in love in a romantic sense, often with a sense of longing or infatuation directed at a person; used in literary or poetic registers and in everyday speech when describing developing romantic feelings.
Main meanings
- to develop romantic attraction toward a particular person
- to experience a romantic feeling that may lead to a relationship
- often used in literature and media to depict the moment of awakening in love
How to use it
Used in casual conversation and formal writing to express developing romantic feelings; with 恋をする indicating falling in love with someone, and 恋する often describing a general romantic vibe rather than a specific action; in formal or literary contexts, other phrasings like 恋に落ちる may be preferred for idiomatic emphasis.
Variants and close terms
- 恋をする — koi o suru — fall in love
- 愛する — ai suru — to love (deep, long-term)
- 思いを寄せる — omoi o yoseru — to have feelings for someone
- 恋愛 — ren'ai — love affair, romantic love (noun)
- 恋に落ちる — koi ni ochiru — to fall in love (idiom)
Composition
- 恋 = romance, love, longing; する = a verb that turns a noun into an action, here forming a verb meaning the act of loving or falling in love
Etymology
Phonology: 恋 is read with the kun'yomi koi, a noun meaning romantic love, and it combines with する to form a verb expressing the action of experiencing love; this noun-plus-suru construction yields the modern meaning of to fall in love, illustrating how a content word can be turned into a dynamic predicate in contemporary Japanese.
Word class
Verb (suru-verb, サ変動詞)