love handle

English

Alternative forms

• lovehandle

Etymology

First appears c. 1970 in the publication Current Slang. So called because it is supposed to be grabbed by a partner during sexual intercourse.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

love handle (plural love handles)

1. (colloquial, euphemistic, chiefly in the plural) A protruding area of fat on the side of the body, above the hips.

   Synonyms: spare tire, spare tyre

   • 2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times‎^[1]:

     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.

Derived terms

• love-handled

Translations

protruding area of fat on the side of the body

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腰間贅肉 / 腰间赘肉 (yāojiān zhuìròu)

• Finnish: jenkkakahva (fi)
• French: poignée d’amour (fr) f
• German: Rettungsring (de) m
• Hungarian: úszógumi (hu)
• Italian: maniglie dell'amore f pl, maniglie di venere f pl
• Malay: geleber pinggang
• Norwegian: bilring (no) m
• Polish: boczki m pl, oponka (pl) f
• Portuguese: pneu (pt) m
• Russian: жо́пкины у́шки (ru) n pl (žópkiny úški, literally “ears of arse”)
• Spanish: rollo (es) m (Argentina), cartucheras m pl (thigh fat), michelín (es) m, lorza (es) f, flotador m, salvavida(s) m, llanta (es) f
• Swedish: bilring (sv) c, kärlekshandtag (sv) n

See also

• batwing, excess fat under arms