Greek phileō (φιλέω) — "to love with warm affection, to be fond of, to feel affinity toward." The verb from which we get philia ("brotherly/friendship love"), Philadelphia ("brotherly love"), philosophy ("love of wisdom"), and "philo-" prefixes broadly. Distinguished from agapaō — agapē is principled, committed, sacrificial love (can be commanded); phileō is affectionate, emotionally warm, natural love (arises organically). The two words are not mutually exclusive — God "phileos" the disciples (John 16:27) as well as agapes them — but they capture different dimensions.
The most famous phileō passage is John 21, where the risen Christ asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?" The first two times Jesus uses agapas me ("Do you love me — committed, sacrificial?"), and Peter each time answers philō se ("I have warm affection for you"). The third time Jesus shifts to Peter's word, phileis me, and Peter is grieved that Jesus had to ask at his level. Some commentators argue the two words are synonymous here (John uses them interchangeably elsewhere), others that a real distinction is at play. Either way, the passage is restoration after three denials, and the charge is the same each time: "Feed my sheep." Elsewhere phileō describes: the Father's love for the Son (John 5:20), the world's love of its own (John 15:19), the hypocrites who love to pray to be seen (Matthew 6:5). The word teaches that natural affection matters — we are not just called to the stoic discipline of agape but to the warm, affectionate delight that makes friendship the sweetest fruit of the gospel.