Polyamory

The word polyamory is a hybrid coinage from the Greek poly (many) and the Latin amor (love). Merriam-Webster dates its first known use to 1992 and defines it as the state or practice of having more than one open romantic relationship at a time. The term is widely credited to Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, whose 1990 essay A Bouquet of Lovers first used a closely related form in print, and the noun was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006 (Wikipedia).

The clearest line between polyamory and swinging is what is being shared. Swinging communities generally describe themselves as emotionally monogamous while engaging in extra-dyadic sexual play, whereas polyamorous people deliberately build romantic, emotional, and often domestic intimacy with more than one partner at a time (Wikipedia). In practice the boundary is fuzzy: many lifestyle couples form sustained friendships with play partners, and many polyamorous people do attend lifestyle events or play casually. The label tracks the intent of the relationships, not the specific acts involved.

Polyamory is a subset of the broader category sometimes called consensual or ethical non-monogamy. All polyamory is consensual non-monogamy, but not all consensual non-monogamy is polyamory; swinging, open relationships, relationship anarchy, and solo polyamory are distinct structures with overlapping but different vocabularies. The shared core across all of them is the requirement that every partner involved knows about and agrees to the arrangement.