covetous

English

Etymology

From Middle English coveitous, from Anglo-Norman *cuveitus, from Medieval Latin as if *cupiditosus, from Latin cupiditas (“desire”); see covet.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kŭv'ət-əs, IPA^(key): /ˈkʌvətəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

covetous (comparative more covetous, superlative most covetous)

1. Distastefully desirous or keen, especially for something belonging to someone else; avaricious.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:greedy

   • 1545 July 12 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Elyot, A Preseruatiue agaynste Deth, London: […] Thomas Berthelet, […], →OCLC, signature [B.vi.], recto:

     The couaitous deſyre of riche men is euer vnſaciable. It always raueneth and neuer is ſatisfied.

   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, pages 125–126:

     Intimate as she was with Lady Anne, she would not but see how little the Misses Granard had of the ordinary pleasures of their age—but it never entered into her head to add to them—had one of their sweet faces been seen in her box at the opera, it might have attracted that attention she was feverishly covetous of engrossing.

Derived terms

• covetously
• covetousness
• overcovetous
• uncovetous

Related terms

• covet

Translations

distastefully desirous or keen — see also avaricious

• Arabic: طَمَّاع (ṭammāʕ), حَسُود (ḥasūd), مُشْتَهٍ (muštahin), شَرِه (šarih)
• Armenian: ագահ (hy) (agah)
• Bulgarian: алчен (bg) (alčen), лаком (bg) (lakom)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貪求的 / 贪求的 (tānqiú de), 垂涎的 (chuíxián de)

• Czech: lačný (cs), žádostivý, prahnoucí
• Finnish: himoitseva (fi), isoava (fi)
• French: avare (fr)
• Galician: cobizoso
• German: begierig (de), gierig (de)
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌿𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌺𐍃 (faihufriks)
• Greek: φθονερός (el) (fthonerós), ζηλόφθων m or f (zilófthon)
• Hungarian: kapzsi (hu), mohó (hu)
• Irish: maoinchíocrach, amplach, amplúil, antlásach, santach
• Latin: trahax
• Norwegian: gjerrig (no)
• Persian: حریص (fa) (haris)
• Polish: chciwy (pl), pożądliwy (pl)
• Russian: а́лчный (ru) (álčnyj), жа́дный (ru) (žádnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: sanntach
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: آج (ac), حریص (haris)

Further reading

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “covetous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “covetous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.