metamour en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /-mɔː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈmɛ.tə.mʊɹ/ (General-American)
- /ˈmɛ.tə.mʊə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (General-American) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *me Proto-Indo-European *meth₂? Ancient Greek μετᾰ́ (metắ) Ancient Greek μετᾰ- (metă-)lbor. English meta- Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃-der. Proto-Italic *amāō Latin amō Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *-ōs Proto-Italic *-ōs Latin -or Latin amōrem Old French amor Middle French amourbor. Middle English amour ▲ French amourinflu. English amour English paramourinflu. English metamour From meta- (“transcending”) + amour (“lover”), likely influenced by paramour.
Meanings
-
In a polyamorous relationship, one's partner's partner, with whom one is not directly involved.
I get it less with women who are bi and poly than with women who are monosexual and monogamous/monoamorous, but I can't put my finger on why, and there are exceptions in both directions. I get it less with metamours than with women who are unrelated, but maybe that's just because if my metamours were alien to me, there's a fair chance they'd be alien to my partners too, or conversely that I'd have been alien to the partners when they were still just potential partners, and hence we'd never become metamours in the first place.
2000 August 11, Liz W, “When your wife loves to be at the center …!”, in alt.polyamory (Usenet):Even over Zoom, Anna has features that instill jealousy – thick brown hair, camera-ready cheekbones, intense green eyes — and in considering how jealous I would feel if Anna (or honestly any of this polycule, because yes, reader, they are all hot) were my metamour, I imagine what it would be like, how destabilizing to watch your partner grow closer and more intimate and happier with another person; […]
2024 January 16, Allison P. Davis, “What Does a Polycule Actually Look Like?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2025:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| metamor | alternative | lexicographic | |
| metamours | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Synonyms
Translations (6)
eo boamanto (the partner of one's partner) · nl metamour (the partner of one's partner) · fi metamuru (the partner of one's partner) · eo metaamanto (the partner of one's partner) · fr métamour (the partner of one's partner) · pt metamor (the partner of one's partner)