beloved

Beloved is an adjective meaning dearly loved or highly cherished. It can describe a person or thing that is cherished, and in everyday language it can function as a term of endearment. The word also appears as a proper noun in titles and names across literature, film, and other cultural works.

Etymology and usage details are straightforward: beloved derives from be- added to the past participle of love, forming belove in earlier forms and later settling into the modern adjective beloved. In historical and literary texts, it has been used to denote both intimate affection and esteemed status.

The best-known modern use is the novel Beloved, published in 1987 by Toni Morrison. The work is set in the aftermath of slavery in the United States and follows Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, while exploring memory, trauma, and the legacy of bondage. Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988 and is widely regarded as a landmark of American literature. A film adaptation was released in 1998.

Beyond literature, beloved appears in religious and secular contexts as a form of address or description for someone considered cherished or sacred. It also shows up in music, poetry, and popular culture as a synonym for treasured or dear. The term today thus spans everyday language, literary symbolism, and cultural and devotional uses, maintaining its core sense of valued affection.