# What are the six kinds of Greek love? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 2, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324 "2000-05-02T01:48:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/1 "2000-05-02T01:48:52Z")
Agape, Eros, and four others. Anyone? Settle a bet between Swiddles and SisterRiddles. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/2 "2000-05-02T01:59:58Z")
I only know three off the top of my head. Agape, Eros, Pathos (I think) something that starts with an S as well but I can’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/3 "2000-05-02T02:00:32Z")
Ohhhhh! I often wondered what those ads for escorts ment when they say they offer “Greek”. I can’t believe I just hit the “reply” button… ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/4 "2000-05-02T02:01:12Z")
Philios (sp?) is the only other one I’ve heard of. BTW, when I first saw the subject like, I thought it said “Geek Love” But I can’t think of what kinds of geek love there might be (Love of computers?) ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/5 "2000-05-02T02:06:22Z")
Ummm… Four total, perhaps: _The Four Loves_ by C.S. Lewis filia, storge, eros and agape. PS: typing “Greek Love” into a search engine may not give you the response you are looking for. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/6 "2000-05-02T02:09:55Z")
Okay… _went searching and found something_ As far as I know its only 4 kinds of Greek love and they go in order as Agape Philia Eros Storge Agape being pure brotherly love the type Jesus had for all of us (at least according to what I was taught I’m not trying to preach) Philia is the type of love between Husband and Wife Eros is basically lust and Storge I believe is like love between Mother/Father and children, friends, grandparents and grandchildren that type of thing. Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/7 "2000-05-02T02:11:08Z")
Kissing, jackoff, suck, fuck, rimming, and fisting. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/8 "2000-05-02T02:16:27Z")
Um I just found something which explains each level of love better then I did [http://www.io.com/~jlockett/Grist/English/ulysses.html](http://www.io.com/~jlockett/Grist/English/ulysses.html) _will stop taking over this thread now_ ---
**Author:** ![diamud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@diamud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diamud)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/9 "2000-05-02T04:43:09Z")
Don’t forget caritas (not Greek, but a type of Christian love), which means charity, or love of fellow men. remember it from a old philip k. dick novel. Maybe not the great attribution, but it is a real word. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/10 "2000-05-02T05:19:40Z")
Aww rats. I’ve only heard of three, and if you guys are right, I’m wrong about the spelling and meanings of them: _philos_ Brotherly love (and probably also familial) _eros_ Romantic love _agape_ Love between man and God _storge_ I hadn’t heard of before Anyway, I might be wrong about those, but that’s what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/11 "2000-05-02T13:29:46Z")
How about hylomania? ::duck and cover:: ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/12 "2000-05-02T15:18:55Z")
Well, Ukulele Ike’s wife is Greek, so he should be best-qualified to tell us . . . OK, Ike, what ARE her six kinds of love? —Eve (ducking and running) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/13 "2000-05-02T15:22:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Philia is the type of love between Husband and Wife > > Eros is basically lust > \*\* No comment. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/14 "2000-05-02T15:26:36Z")
Oh, yeah…Cynara scolymusiphilia. Love of a nicely-steamed artichoke, with a little lemon and garlic butter on the side. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/15 "2000-05-02T16:12:23Z")
Cynara scolymusiphilia.? Will pennicillian clear that up? ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-six-kinds-of-greek-love/18324/16 "2000-05-02T16:49:42Z")
I believe the missing greek word for love is _adelphoi_. My word form may be wrong. Many years ago I went to a Christian college which did not have fraternities. So each dormatory floor had a self-chosen name. Ours was Adelphoi which the seniors explained to me meant brotherly love. My guess then WRT Philadelphia, is that the name is actually a combination of two greek words for different aspects of brotherly love. Tinker