Etymology

lovey-dovey

Today it means: Affectionate in a rather mushy or oversentimental fashion. Full definition →

English dove ← Middle English douve ← Old English *dūfe
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The story

  1. Englishlove
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰewbʰ-der.?
  3. Proto-Germanic*dūbaną?
  4. Proto-Germanic*dūbǭ
  5. Proto-West Germanic*dūbā
  6. Old English*dūfe
  7. Middle Englishdouve
  8. Englishdove
  9. English todaylovey-dovey

From love + -y + dove + -y.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.