enviable

English

Etymology

From Middle French enviable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛnvi.əbl̩/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

enviable (comparative more enviable, superlative most enviable)

1. Arousing or likely to arouse envy.
   • 1863, [William] Wilkie Collins, “Douglas Jerrold”, in My Miscellanies. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 83:

     He [Douglas William Jerrold] had achieved many enviable dramatic successes before this time.

   • c. 1870, Emile Gaboriau, translated by Laura E. Kendall, Monsieur Lecoq:

     This quarter of the city had at that time anything but an enviable reputation.

Related terms

• unenviable

Translations

arousing or likely to arouse envy

• Bulgarian: завиден (bg) (zaviden)
• Catalan: envejable
• Czech: záviděníhodný
• Dutch: benijdenswaardig (nl)
• Finnish: kadehdittava
• French: enviable (fr)
• Galician: envexable (gl)
• German: beneidenswert (de)
• Greek: αξιοζήλευτος (el) (axiozíleftos)

  Ancient: ἀξιόζηλος (axiózēlos)

• Italian: invidiabile (it)
• Manx: yn-troo
• Maori: haetara
• Polish: godny pozazdroszczenia
• Portuguese: invejável
• Russian: зави́дный (ru) (zavídnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за́видан

  Roman: závidan (sh)

• Slovak: závideniahodný
• Spanish: envidiable (es)
• Swedish: avundsvärd (sv)
• Tajik: рашковар (raškovar), рашкомез (raškomez), рашкангез (raškangez)

Anagrams

• veniable

French

Etymology

From envie +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.vjabl/

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Adjective

enviable (plural enviables)

1. enviable

   un sort peu enviable ― an unenviable fate

Further reading

• “enviable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /emˈbjable/ [ẽmˈbja.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: en‧via‧ble

Adjective

enviable m or f (masculine and feminine plural enviables)

1. enviable