love-hate
/ˌlʌvˈheɪt/
"love-hate" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“love-hate” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of a relationship: involving feelings of both love and hate, often simultaneously.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | love-hate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌlʌvˈheɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “love-hate” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
love-hate is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌlʌvˈheɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Of a relationship: involving feelings of both love and hate, often simultaneously.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for love-hate, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adjective is a calque of German Liebe-Hass (now more commonly Hassliebe (“love-hate relationship”)), from Liebe (“love; relationship of love”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love”)) + Hass (“hate; hatred”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-… The correct English form is love-hate, spelled L-O-V-E---H-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1Of a relationship: involving feelings of both love and hate, often simultaneously.
Etymology
The adjective is a calque of German Liebe-Hass (now more commonly Hassliebe (“love-hate relationship”)), from Liebe (“love; relationship of love”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love”)) + Hass (“hate; hatred”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂d- (“anger; hatred”)). The verb is derived from the adjective.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “love-hate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-V-E---H-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌlʌvˈheɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.