What is the difference between 失恋する and 振る?


Both 失恋する and 振る mean to be rejected. But then are they exactly the same
thing? What are the nuances between those two words?

Thank you in advance.




## 振{ふ}る

As istrasci noted in the comments, 振る (in relation to romance) means _"to
reject"_. In physical terms, it literally means " _to shake"_ or _"to wave"_ ,
and the romantic meanings could thus be understood as similar to the English
phrasing _"to shake or wave someone off"_ → _"to get rid of someone, to reject
someone"_.

## 失恋{しつれん}する

Looking at this second term, the individual kanji mean _"to lose"_ + _"love
(especially passionate or carnal love)"_. ~~Idiomatically, it's more like _"to
lose **in** love"_, as in, _"to love someone but not get anywhere with them"_
→ with connotations of either _unrequited love_ , or _rejected love_.~~

I've struck out text above due to a misapprehension on my part, due in part to
misleading reference materials. After chatting some with native speakers
[here](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/28199910#28199910) and
earlier, and also offline, it turns out the meaning of 失恋する is much closer to
the literal spelling: forget about _"unrequited love"_ , a better English
gloss would be **_"to become broken-hearted"_**.

## Comparison

振る then is what the rejecter does, while 失恋する is what the person in love with
the rejecter does.

An example (albeit somewhat forced):

> あの子は彼を **振った** ので、彼は **失恋した** 。  
>  Because that girl **turned** him **down** , he **became broken-hearted**.

Note the _"became"_ : the Japanese term refers to the **change of state** from
in love to broken-hearted. I've changed the usage example above accordingly.
Using a -ている form with 失恋する implies that a person is getting their heart
broken multiple times, and _not_ that they are in an ongoing state of broken-
heartedness.

