meaning
to have a strong emotional bond with, e.g. affection, appreciation, compassion, respect; platonic, romantic, or familial relationships
semantic space · lipamanka
olin describes the act of being emotionally bonded to someone something. In usage, these bonds are typically positive and strong. For example, a very good friend, a partner, a family member, or a pet. Not only could the love for a very good friend be olin, but so can the friend. This can be used with objects too. The bond between many toki ponists and the language toki pona is olin. This isn't the same thing as liking something. By using olin, you are evoking some sort of emotional bond. Note that olin doesn't describe all emotional bonds between two things. So if I don't like someone a lot but I still respect them deeply, I could still use olin to describe the respect, but probably not how I don't like them. Using olin for respect is a less common usage.
ku translations
loving100 love96 romance69 romantic60 compassion50 attraction40 intimate33 passion29 beloved27 loyalty23 faithful20 loyal20 dear17 darling16 mercy16 passionate16 care14 appreciation13 crush13 respect13
pu verbatim
VERB to love, have compassion for, respect, show affection to
usage
core · 100% usage
found in pu
coined pre-pu
origin
Serbo-Croatian · волим volim ‘I love’
coined by jan Sonja
listen
kala Asi
jan Lakuse
commentary
In english, "love" can be used to mean "like a lot", but in toki pona, "olin" doesn't work that way. It indicates an emotional connection or bond, not preference
sitelen pona
olin0 olin1 olin2two heart symbols (♡), perhaps to distinguish from pilin
sitelen sitelen
sitelen jelo
💕
sitelen Emosi
💕
ucsur
U+F1945