Simon & His camera under a CC license on Flickr

The Greeks are very creative when it comes to words of love. It doesn’t matter if we are cynical or romantic, extrovert or introvert, we all use words of love when addressing our alter ego. Below there is a sample of a “Greek vocabulary of love”. You might think that some of these words are ridiculous and some Greeks believe the same. However, they are commonly used in order to express affection and love.

• Αγάπη μου= my love. The most famous expression. The diminutive “αγαπούλα μου” (my little love) is also very common. For more information on diminutives, check my last post.
• Ζωή μου= literally: my life
• Καρδιά μου= literally: my heart. It’s another way of saying “my love”. The diminutive is καρδούλα μου (my little heart).
• Κορίτσι μου / κοριτσάκι μου= my girl / my little girl. It can be used for any woman in spite of her age.
• Κούκλα μου. Κούκλα means doll and it is used when addressing a woman. The derivatives are κουκλίτσα, κουκλάκι (little doll) or κουκλάρα (literally it means big doll and metaphorically hot woman).
• Μάτια μου= literally: my eyes. I guess the metaphoric meaning would be “my precious”. The diminutive ματάκια μου is common as well.
• Μωρό μου / μωράκι μου= my baby / my little baby. It can be used to address both men and women.
• Φως μου= literally: my light.
• Ψυχή μου= literally: my soul.

The animal kingdom could not be missing from the list. Usually women use these words to address their partners.

• γατάκι= kitten
• γουρουνάκι= little pig
• ζουζουνάκι= little bug
• κουνελάκι= little rabbit
• λιονταράκι= little lion
• μαϊμουδάκι= little monkey
• τιγράκι= little tiger

The list is endless and the only limit is one’s imagination. Some people use names of flowers (τριανταφυλλάκι μου, my little rose), fruits (βερικοκάκι μου, my little apricot), or they invent words than mean nothing.

If you want to write a card to your Greek partner you can pleasantly surprise them by writing a few phrases in Greek:

• Είσαι η ζωή μου= you are my life
• Είσαι ό,τι καλύτερο μου έχει συμβεί= you are the best thing that happened to me
• Θέλω να είμαι πάντα μαζί σου= I want to be with you always

And a  famous love song by Nikos Papazoglou called Αύγουστος (August)