What is the difference between koi, ai, and renai? 恋、愛、恋愛


I've been listening to a lot of music, and I've always seen Ai 愛 Koi 恋 and
ren'ai 恋愛 used the same. Any help? Thanks! :)




恋【こい】 and 恋愛【れんあい】 are basically the same. They both mean romantic love or
romance, that feeling based on sexual attraction. 恋 is a [native-Japanese
word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato_kotoba) ( _wago_ or _yamato-kotoba_
) whereas 恋愛 is a [Sino-Japanese word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-
Japanese_vocabulary) ( _kango_ ). Generally speaking, Sino-Japanese words tend
to sound more technical or formal, as discussed in
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/33685/5010),
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/36422/5010) and
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/17935/5010). 恋愛 is the preferred
word in news articles, verdicts and such. Well, in this specific case, 恋愛 is
commonly used in casual situations, too. Still, 恋愛 tends to sound somewhat
objective, whereas 恋 sounds more...romantic.

愛 is more generic familial love, human love, God's love, etc. The difference
from 恋 is already covered in existing questions. See: [Love in the air: 愛ｘ恋
{あい vs こい}](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2246/5010) and [Translating a
sentence with 恋 and 愛](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/56984/5010)

