Meanings
plural love handles · alternative lovehandle
- colloquialeuphemisticin pluralA protruding area of fat on the side of the body, above the hips.
The good news. Three weeks into the programme I am rediscovering bits of my body I had forgotten existed; biceps, triceps, hamstrings and those funny muscles on the sides of the abdomen called obliques, the toning of which is supposed to eliminate the love handle.
2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2025Synonyms: spare tire, spare tyre
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA protruding area of fat on the side of the body, above the hips.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
First appears c. 1970 in the publication Current Slang. So called because it is supposedly grabbed by a partner during an embrace or sexual activity.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 腰間贅肉 /腰间赘肉
- 腰間贅肉 /腰间赘肉 (yāojiān zhuìròu)protruding area of fat on the side of the body
Finnish jenkkakahva
- jenkkakahvaprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
French poignée d’amour, bouée de sauvetage
- poignée d’amourprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- bouée de sauvetageprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
German Rettungsring
- Rettungsringprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Hungarian úszógumi
- úszógumiprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Italian maniglie dell'amore, maniglie di venere
- maniglie dell'amoreprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- maniglie di venereprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Malay geleber pinggang
- geleber pinggangprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Norwegian bilring
- bilringprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Polish boczek, oponka
- boczekprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- oponkaprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Portuguese pneu
- pneuprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Spanish rollo, cartucheras
- rolloprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- cartucherasprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- michelínprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- lorzaprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- flotadorprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- salvavida(s)protruding area of fat on the side of the body
- llantaprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Swedish bilring, kärlekshandtag
- bilringprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
- kärlekshandtagprotruding area of fat on the side of the body
Cite this entry
love handle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/love%20handle
“love handle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/love%20handle. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “love handle,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/love%20handle.
Source: love handle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.