enviable

English

WOTD – 4 September 2025

Etymology

Etymology tree

Old French enviebor.

Middle English envie

English envy

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin -ābilis

Old French -ablebor.

Middle English -able

English -able

English enviable

From envy +‎ -able (suffix meaning ‘able or fit to be done’ forming adjectives).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛn.vi.ə.bl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɛn.vɪ.ə.b(ə)l/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: en‧vi‧a‧ble

Adjective

enviable (comparative more enviable, superlative most enviable)

1. Arousing or likely to arouse envy.

   Antonym: unenviable

   • 1609, Richard Carew, “The Second Booke”, in The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC, folio 117, verso:

     Sundrie other Gent[lemen] reſt beholden to this hundred, for their dvvellings, vvho, in an enuiable mediocritie of fortune, do happilie poſſeſſe themſelues, and communicate their ſufficient means to the ſeruice of their prince, the good of their neighbours, and the bettering of their ovvn eſtate: […]

   • 1779 May 25 (date written), Edmund Burke, “Edmund Burke, Esq., to Richard Shackleton”, in Harold J[oseph] Laski, editor, Letters of Edmund Burke: A Selection […] (The World’s Classics; CCXXXVII), London; Edinburgh: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, published 1920, →OCLC, page 224:

     In the course I have taken, I have met, and do daily meet, so many vexations, that I may with truth assure you, that my situation is anything rather than enviable, though it is my happiness to act with those that are far the best that probably ever were engaged in the public service of this country at any time.

   • 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 3:

     To superficial observers it might well seem that William [III of England] was, at this time, one of the most enviable of human beings. He was in truth one of the most anxious and unhappy.

   • 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.

   • 1881, Émile Gaboriau, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Lecoq, the Detective. […] (Gaboriau’s Sensational Novels; IV), part I (The Search), London: Vizetelly & Co., […], published 1886, →OCLC, page 5:

     This quarter of the city had at that time anything but an enviable reputation. To venture there at night was considered so dangerous that the soldiers from the outlying forts who came in to Paris with permission to go to the theatre, were ordered to halt at the barrière, and not to pass through the perilous district excepting in parties of three or four.

   • 2019 September 26, Brekke Fletcher, “Fall in the Hamptons means the happiest hour of all”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 1 October 2019:

     As enviable as summer in the Hamptons can be -- stunning weather, beaches, greenery, produce, and yes, people -- autumn is when the east end of Long Island becomes truly magical.

Derived terms

• enviability
• enviableness
• enviably
• unenviable
• unenviableness
• unenviably

Related terms

• envy

Translations

arousing or likely to arouse envy

• Bulgarian: завиден (bg) (zaviden)
• Catalan: envejable
• Chinese:

  Min Nan: 鑿目 / 凿目 (zh-min-nan) (chha̍k-ba̍k, literally “chiselling the eye”) (Mainland China Hokkien), 刺人目 (chhiah-lâng-ba̍k, literally “piercing a person’s eye”) (Zhangzhou Hokkien), 刺目 (chhì-ba̍k, chhiah-ba̍k, literally “piercing the eye”) (Xiamen and Zhangzhou Hokkien)

• Czech: záviděníhodný
• Dutch: benijdenswaardig (nl)
• Finnish: kadehdittava
• French: enviable (fr)
• Galician: envexable (gl)
• Georgian: შესაშური (šesašuri)
• German: beneidenswert (de)
• Greek: αξιοζήλευτος (el) (axiozíleftos), ζηλευτός (el) (zileftós)

  Ancient Greek: ἀξιόζηλος (axiózēlos)

• Italian: invidiabile (it)
• Japanese: 妬ましい (ja) (ねたましい, netamashii), 羨ましい (ja) (うらやましい, urayamashii)
• Korean: 부럽다 (ko) (bureopda)
• Latin: invidiōsus
• Macedonian: завиден (zaviden)
• Manx: yn-troo
• Māori: haetara
• Polish: godny pozazdroszczenia (literally “worthy of envying”)
• Portuguese: invejável
• Russian: зави́дный (ru) (zavídnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за́видан

  Latin: závidan (sh)

• Slovak: závideniahodný
• Spanish: enviable (es), envidiable (es)
• Swedish: avundsvärd (sv)
• Tajik: рашкангез (raškangez), рашкомез (raškomez), рашковар (raškovar)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• envy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• veniable

French

Etymology

From envie +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.vjabl/

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (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