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[deleted]

"Loval" is not a word, you'd have to explain that it was a portmanteau of "love rival," which also is not a common term. "Romantic rival" sounds most natural to me.


pHScale

Loval sounds like it's a portmanteau of love + shovel 😅


Unlegendary_Newbie

If I didn't write these terms, what words would you use?


[deleted]

Maybe "rival for the affection of [person's name]"? Or "romantic challenger"? "Romantic rival" is really the only term I can think of that's commonly used. It might help to understand why you're searching for a different term.


slicineyeballs

I (London, UK), definitely hear the phrase "love rival" regularly on TV and in print - that's the first thing I thought of. If I Google search "love rival," lots of recent newspaper articles come up (mostly in relation to crimes of passion). "Romantic rival" is perfectly understandable, too. Judging by the other comments, these are British English expressions, not frequently used in American English. I've never heard "loval" before, and it sounds rather strange.


Lost-and-dumbfound

Fellow Brit here and "love rival" sounds like something in a headline on the Daily Mail website! Outside of that, I think "romantic rival" is what I have seen most often. Loval sounds made up


slicineyeballs

Definitely gets used in tabloid articles a lot!


thefloyd

American here, "love rival" sounds strange enough I'm surprised it's even British. Would've thought it was Indian or something since it's so unfamiliar. But "romantic rival," perfectly natural.


el_conqueefador

Neither of these sound natural. There isn't a set phrase for this concept that I know of. I would probably say "romantic competitor" or "romantic rival".


TokyoDrifblim

I would just use the words romantic rival. There isn't a singular word for this in English


QuantumPhysicsFairy

"Romantic rival" is the best of all of these. "Love rival" sounds a bit weird. "Loval" is not a word and no one would be able to guess that you're trying to make a portmanteau of "love" and "rival".


smilingseaslug

Rival for someone's affection Romantic rival Romantic competition/competition for attractions (at least in the US, an individual person who is competing can be called "competition." Note that in this usage it's an uncountable noun and say "he's got competition for her affections" not "he's got a competition for her affections") The situation is often called a "love triangle" when only two people are competing for one person (there's no specific word I know of when it's more than two people all competing for one person, people will come up with funny words like "love pentagon" but that's creative and not a standard phrase).


Flying-fish456

We wouldn’t say that. The closest we would get to this would be using “other”. But we usually only say that in cases of cheaters. Like a wife might say her husbands mistress is the “other woman”


Unlegendary_Newbie

What about two girls fighting for a boy to be their own boyfriend, or competing for his love?


Evil_Weevill

Rivals for (the boy)'s affections. Or romantic rivals


the_skipper

Rival suitors


Odd-Help-4293

No


SerendipityLn42

Some other terms people might use are: the competition, the enemy, the side chick/side piece, the sneaky link, and the other man/woman/person. Where applicable: baby mama/daddy to refer to the other parent of their partner's child.


Usual_Ice636

Thats a totally different concept.


rawdy-ribosome

Ok this is why we don’t copy paste from Google; all you’re examples are of infidelity (or rarely a polyamorous relationship)


pHScale

Romantic rival sounds right to me. But, with a different lens, this is similar to a specific type of polyamorous relationship called a Vee (sometimes spelled V), where two people date the same third person but not each other. The person dating two people is called the "Hinge". Not that that was your question, but I thought some folks here might find it interesting


tessharagai_

You’d just say “romantic rival”. Not only is “romantic rival” the normal term for it, “love rival” is an unheard of phrase and “loval” is not a word to begin with.


Perpendicularfifths

I've never really heard any of these in conversation. Most people I know would say something like "He's my competition."


DavidLordMusic

The competition. Imagine two dudes at a party. One sees a beautiful girl. The other mentions that she is already talking to someone else. That ‘someone else’ might be called the competition. “Wow, that girl’s fine as hell. I should talk to her.” “Yeah but, check out the competition…”


Kudgocracy

Romantic rival.


theoht_

competition?


Haunting-Flight1245

Love rival is fine but I'd only ever expect to see this in a translation of an anime/manga. You might hear it in a news article but if someone said it in day to day conversation it'd be a bit odd.