Other forms: paramours
A paramour is a lover, especially a secret one. Her paramour, a royal paramour, meet his paramour.
It is archaic and slightly arch, which is why it appears in historical writing and in headlines wanting a lighter word than lover. It began as an adverb phrase meaning by love, and was used of loving God as well as of illicit affairs before it narrowed.
1nounparamourA lover, especially a secret one.
“The duke's letters to his secret paramour were discovered after his death.”
paramour is a lover.
Middle English par amour comes from Anglo-Norman, meaning by love or passionately. It became a noun in English.
Proto-Indo-European
*per- — to go through; etc.
Latin
per — by means of, through
Old French
par amur
Anglo-Norman
par amur — in a friendly or willing manner
Middle English
par amour
English, today
paramour
Built from
The is derived from Middle English par amour, paramore, paramours (“with sexual desire or love, passionately; in a courteous or friendly manner”), from Anglo-Norman par amur (“in a friendly or willing manner”) and Old French par amur, par amour, paramours (“by or through love”) (modern French par amour), from par (“by; through; etc.”) (from Latin per (“by means of, through”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per- (“to go through; etc.”)) + amor, amur (“love”) (from Latin amōrem, the of amor (“desire, lust; affection, love”), from amō (“to love”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₃emh₃- (“to grasp, seize; to take hold; to touch; etc.”)) + -or). The is from Middle English paramour, paramoure, paramur, peramour (“wife; concubine; mistress; husband; male lover; darling, sweetheart; romantic love; sexual passion; (Christianity) Jesus Christ; the Virgin Mary; divine or spiritual love”), from par amour, paramore (see above), possibly from a misinterpretation of to love paramour(s) (“to love passionately”) to mean “to love a beloved person”. The is partly from both of the following:
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA