greed

English

Etymology

Back-formation from greedy.

Pronunciation

• enPR: grēd, IPA^(key): /ɡɹid/
• Rhymes: -iːd

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

greed (countable and uncountable, plural greeds)

1. A selfish or excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, especially of money, wealth, food, or other possessions.

   His greed was his undoing.

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 564:

     […] But when I had bestridden the plank, quoth I to myself, "Thou deserveth all that betideth thee. All this is decreed to me of Allah (whose name be exalted!), to turn me from my greed of gain, whence ariseth all that I endure, for I have wealth galore."

Synonyms

• (selfish desire for more than is needed): avarice, covetousness, greediness, rapacity
• See also Thesaurus:greed
• (desire for food): gluttony

Derived terms

• greedily
• greediness
• greedy

Translations

selfish desire for more than is needed

• Albanian: lakmi (sq)
• Arabic: جَشَع m (jašaʕ), طَمَع (ar) m (ṭamaʕ)
• Armenian: ագահություն (hy) (agahutʻyun)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: хці́васць f (xcívascʹ), сква́пнасць f (skvápnascʹ), жа́дасць f (žádascʹ), хаплі́васць f (xaplívascʹ)
• Bulgarian: а́лчност (bg) f (álčnost)
• Catalan: avarícia f, cobdícia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貪心／贪心 (zh) (tānxīn), 贪心 (zh) (tānxīn), 貪欲／贪欲 (zh) (tānyù), 贪欲 (zh) (tānyù), 貪婪／贪婪 (zh) (tānlán), 贪婪 (zh) (tānlán)

• Czech: chamtivost f
• Dutch: hebzucht (nl) f, gulzigheid (nl) f, schraapzucht (nl) f, hebgierigheid f, hebgier f
• Esperanto: avido (eo)
• Estonian: ahnus (et), aplus
• Farefare: pʋyã'anɛ
• Faroese: gírni n, grammleiki m
• Finnish: ahneus (fi)
• French: avidité (fr) f, cupidité (fr) f
• Georgian: სიხარბე (sixarbe), გაუმაძღრობა (gaumaʒɣroba)
• German: Gier (de) f, Habsucht (de) f, Habgier (de) f, Raffgier (de) f, Raffsucht (de) f
• Greek: απληστία (el) (aplistía)

  Ancient: πλεονεξία f (pleonexía), φιλοκέρδεια f (philokérdeia), φιλαργυρία f (philarguría) (for money)

• Greenlandic: ueritsanneq
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: लालच (hi) m (lālac)
• Hungarian: kapzsiság (hu), mohóság (hu)
• Icelandic: græðgi f
• Indonesian: rakus (id)
• Irish: antlás m, gionach f, saint (ga) f
• Italian: avidità (it) f, ingordigia (it) f
• Japanese: 貪 (ja) (とん, ton), 欲 (ja) (よく, yoku), 貪欲 (ja) (とんよく, ton'yoku, たんよく, tan'yoku)
• Khmer: លោភ (km) (loop), លោភលន់ (loŭphlôn), មហាលោភ (mɔɔhaaloop)
• Korean: 탐욕 (tamyok), 욕심 (ko) (yoksim)
• Kurdish:
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: avaritia f
• Lun Bawang: angaa
• Macedonian: алчност f (alčnost)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: áchxą́hwíídéeniʼ
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: griskhet (no) m or f, grådighet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: griskheit f, grådigheit f

• Persian: حرص (fa) (hers)
• Polish: chciwość (pl) f
• Portuguese: ganância (pt) f, cobiça (pt) f, avareza (pt) f
• Romanian: aviditate (ro) f, lăcomie (ro) f, avariție (ro) f
• Russian: а́лчность (ru) f (álčnostʹ), жа́дность (ru) f (žádnostʹ), ненасы́тность (ru) f (nenasýtnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: sannt m, sanntachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: pohlepa (sh) f, gramžljivost f, grabežljivost (sh) f, halapljivost (sh) f, srebroljublje n, škrtost (sh) f, požuda (sh) f

• Slovak: chtivosť f
• Slovene: pohlep m
• Spanish: codicia (es) f, avaricia (es) f, gula (es) f (for food), glotonería (es) f (for food), avidez (es) f
• Swedish: girighet (sv) c
• Tamil: பேராசை (ta) (pērācai)
• Telugu: దురాశ (te) (durāśa)
• Thai: โลภะ (loo-pá)
• Tibetan: ཧར་པོ (har po), འདོད་རྔམ ('dod rngam)
• Ukrainian: жа́дібність f (žádibnistʹ), жадли́вість f (žadlývistʹ), хти́вість f (xtývistʹ), ненаже́рливість f (nenažérlyvistʹ)
• Urdu: طمع m (tam'a), لالچ m (lālac)
• Vietnamese: sự tham lam
• Welsh: bâr m, barau m pl

Further reading

• “greed”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “greed”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Verb

greed (third-person singular simple present greeds, present participle greeding, simple past and past participle greeded)

1. To desire in a greedy manner, or to act on such a desire.
   • 1848, Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton, Harold: The Last of the Saxon Kings, page 218:

     The ravens sit greeding, And watching, and heeding: Thoro' wind, over water, Comes scent of the slaughter, And ravens sit greeding Their share of the bones.

   • 1885, Sir Richard Francis Burton, A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights:

     Hearing these words he arose, because indeed he greeded for her, and came up behind her as she rested upon her elbows and knees and bending in hand his prickle nailed it into her coynte and did manly devoir.

   • 2008, Leonard Warwick, The Unspoken, page 284:

     This conniving bastard has greeded the farm off an old man and I end up with nothing.

Anagrams

• degre, dereg, edger, erged