Where does aromantic come from?
The word aromantic comes from the prefix a-, meaning “not,” and romantic, which in this context means “relating to romance.” The word aromantic is not to be confused with aromatic, which means “having an aroma; fragrant or sweet-scented; odoriferous.”
While there have been previous instances of the word, aromantic, in its sense of “experiencing no or little romantic attraction,” spreads in the 2000s. Romantic orientation (also known as affectional orientation) and sexual orientation are often conflated, as is asexuality and aromanticism.
Noun forms of aromantic are aromanticism or aromanticity (the state of not experiencing romantic attraction).
Learn more about the important differences in our article, “What Does It Mean To Be Asexual?”
Examples of aromantic
Who uses aromantic?
People often get asexuality and aromanticism mixed up. While they’re similar in their lack of attraction, the domains in which lack of attraction exists are different. The distinction lies in the difference between sexual orientation and romantic orientation. A person’s romantic orientation describes a pattern (or lack thereof) of romantic attraction (like having feelings for a specific someone). A person’s sexual orientation describes a pattern (or lack thereof) of sexual attraction.
While sexual orientation usually also includes patterns of romantic attraction, noting the distinction between one’s sexual and romantic orientations can be quite useful in asexual, aromantic, and LGBTQ circles. For example, someone who identifies as gay may generally feel romantic, emotional, and sexual attraction toward someone of the same gender. A person’s identity can be explained in terms of both their sexual and romantic orientations when it’s helpful. Some examples of where this might be useful are discussions of identities like aromantic pansexual, heteroromantic asexual, aromantic asexual, or even biromantic heterosexual.
With this model, it makes sense that a person who’s aromantic isn’t necessarily asexual. If a person who identifies as asexual can seek out romantic relationships with no sexual component on account of their romantic orientation, it’s not too much of a leap for an aromantic person to be interested in seeking out sexual relationships without a romance component because of their orientation.
Aromanticism is different from just not wanting a relationship. While people of other romantic orientations are capable of romantic attraction toward specific people, aromantic people are not. Being aromantic doesn’t preclude the possibility of having a significant relationship if a particular aromantic person wants one. The relationships that aromantic people are involved in may often instead be rooted in more platonic feelings.
It's aromantic awareness week! 💚🤍🖤
Platonic love is just as real & valid as any other type of love. Friendships are not lesser than romantic relationships.
Replace "more than friends" with "different than friends".
Replace "just friends" with "good friends".— Ren 💜💚 (@space_ace_ren) February 23, 2021
Are you aromantic? You’re spectacular! 🙂
— 🌈 queer positivity!! 🌈 (@radicallyQueer) February 19, 2021
A squish is the aromantic equivalent of a crush. It’s a strong desire for a close friendship or non-romantic relationship with someone. Essentially, it’s a “friend-crush” and it sometimes manifests with the urgency of a romantic one.
Aromantic is sometimes shortened to aro. This often occurs in conjunction with the shortened version of asexual (spelled ace) to form aroace or aro/ace.
Yo, can people like… stop mixing up Aro and Ace? Cause every time I see it, I feel a few years of my life fade away.
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(I'm being dramatic, just feeling lowkey annoyed rn)— Quarky (@quarksnstuff8) February 23, 2021
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of aromantic like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of aromantic that will help our users expand their word mastery.