romance

noun

literary genre
type of love that focuses on feelings over libido
literary poetic genre, born in France in 18th century
musical form of brief, simple melody

verb

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /rə(ʊ)ˈman(t)s/ / /ˈrəʊman(t)s/ / /roʊˈmæn(t)s/

adj

Etymology: From Old French romanz (“vernacular language (of France)”), from Late Latin rōmānicē, from Latin rōmānicus < rōmānus + -icus. Extended in the 17th century to all languages derived from Latin.

Of or dealing with languages or cultures derived from Roman influence and Latin: French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Romanian, Catalan, Occitan, etc.
“In this paper we will concentrate on the problem posed by Iberian Romance languages (i.e. Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish), …”

noun

The group of languages and cultures which are derived from Vulgar Latin.
“The Romance languages are normally grouped along broad geographical lines into Italo-Romance (Italian dialects, with a standard based on Tuscan); Gallo-Romance (French and Provençal); Hispano-Romance (Castilian Spanish, Catalan as less widely recognized standard, and Portuguese); Rhaeto-Romance (Romansh, Ladin, and Friulian); and Balkan Romance (Dalmatian, now extinct, and Romanian). [...] Proto-Romance was a purely spoken language, and we should at least in principle keep it separate from Vulgar Latin.”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English romauns, roumance, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French romanz, romans (the vernacular language of France, as opposed to Latin), from Medieval Latin rōmānicē, Vulgar Latin rōmānicē (“in the Roman language”, adverb), from Latin rōmānicus (“roman”, adjective) from rōmānus (“a Roman”). Doublet of Romansch.

To woo; to court.
“A female Shepard can romance bisexual Yeoman Kelly Chambers, but doing so does not yield a Paramour achievement or an implied sex scene the way that romancing ‘official’ interests does. Similarly, the player can attempt to romance the Asari Samara or her Ardat-Yakshi daughter Morinth, but the former will refuse and sex with the latter will kill Shepard.”
“In the ghetto, the gentle Barber romances a defiant washerwoman, Hannah, who is played by Chaplin's wife at the time, Paulette Goddard.”
To write or tell romantic stories, poetry, letters, etc.
To talk extravagantly and imaginatively; to build castles in the air.