Slang dictionary
evol
[ee-vol]
What does evol mean?
Evol is wordplay on the word love spelled backwards. It is also commonly used as an abbreviation for evolution.
Where does evol come from?
Evol is the word love spelled backwards, punning on the word evil as a joke or expression of heartbreak and the challenges of romantic love. Evol is sometimes popularly defined as a type or degree of love (e.g., “more than liking but less than loving” or “being completely head over heels”).
Comedian Christopher Titus helped popularize the term in 2009 on his Comedy Central special, Love is Evol, which humorously observed the topics of dating, divorce, and love. In 2011, rapper Eminem further popularized the term in his song “Space Bound,” where he raps: “‘Cause I’ve been treated like dirt before you / and love is evol / spell it backwards I’ll show you.”
Evol is also a common abbreviation of evolution, as seen in the 2012 popular anime series Aquarion Evol.
Examples of evol
Who uses evol?
Evol enjoys occasional colloquial use as a humorous or clever reference to love backwards; however, it is mainly used in popular culture, especially music.
Outside of Christopher Titus and Eminem, Sonic Youth released a 1986 album Evol and a South Korean girl-group call themselves EvoL. Welsh band Marina and the Diamonds had a 2013 song E.V.O.L. notably featuring the chorus: “L.O.V.E. / E.V.O.L. / L.O.V.E., do you love me? / L.O.V.E., love is evil.”
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of evol 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 evol that will help our users expand their word mastery.