greedy

English

Etymology

From Middle English gredy, from Old English grǣdiġ (“greedy, hungry, eager”), from Proto-Germanic *grēdagaz (“hungry”), from Proto-Germanic *grēdaz, *grēduz, *grēdô (“hunger”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrēdʰ- (“to be hungry, long for”), equivalent to greed +‎ -y. Cognate with Old Saxon grādag ("gladly, willingly" compare Dutch graag), Old High German grātag (“greedy”), Danish grådig (“greedy”), Norwegian Bokmål grådig (“greedy”) (from Old Norse gráðigr (“greedy”), gráði (“greed, hunger”)), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (grēdags, “hungry”). Non-Germanic cognates include Sanskrit गृद्धि (gṛddhi, “greed”), Albanian ngordh (“to crave for, starve, die”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹiːdi/
• Rhymes: -iːdi

Adjective

greedy (comparative greedier, superlative greediest)

1. Having greed; consumed by selfish desires.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311:

     For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “[…] Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. Oh, dear, there's so much to tell you, so many warnings to give you, but all that must be postponed for the moment.”

2. Prone to overeat.
3. (regular expressions) Tending to match as much text as possible.

   Antonyms: lazy, nongreedy, reluctant

   This regular expression performs a greedy match.

4. (computer science, of an algorithm) That tries to find the global optimum by finding the local optimum at each stage.

   Antonym: nongreedy

Synonyms

• (having greed): Thesaurus:greedy
• (prone to overeat): gluttonous

Derived terms

• greed (by back-formation)
• greediness
• greedyguts
• overgreedy

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: gridi

Translations

having greed; consumed by selfish desires

• Afrikaans: gulsig
• Albanian: lakmitar (sq)
• Arabic: طَمَّاع (ṭammāʕ), جشِع

  Egyptian Arabic: بخيل (baḵīl)

• Armenian: ագահ (hy) (agah)
• Bashkir: ҡомһоҙ (qomhoź), ҡомағай (qomağay), хирес (xires)
• Belarusian: хці́вы (xcívy), пра́гны (práhny), хі́жы (xížy)
• Bulgarian: а́лчен (bg) (álčen)
• Catalan: avariciós, cobdiciós, cobejós, avar (ca), àvid
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 貪心／贪心 (taam¹ sam¹), 贪心 (taam¹ sam¹)

  Mandarin: 貪婪的／贪婪的 (zh), 贪婪的 (zh) (tānlán-de), 貪心的／贪心的 (zh), 贪心的 (zh) (tānxīn-de)

• Czech: chtivý, chamtivý (cs)
• Dalmatian: golaus, gulaus
• Danish: grådig
• Dutch: hebzuchtig (nl)
• Esperanto: avida (eo)
• Estonian: ahne (et)
• Finnish: ahne (fi)
• French: avaricieux (fr), cupide (fr), avide (fr)
• Gallurese: inguddòssu, strùziu
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: gierig (de), habgierig (de), habsüchtig (de)
• Greek: άπληστος (el) m (áplistos)

  Ancient: πλεονέκτης (pleonéktēs), φιλοκερδής (philokerdḗs)

• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: कंजूस (hi) (kañjūs)
• Hungarian: mohó (hu), kapzsi (hu)
• Icelandic: gráðugur
• Ido: avida (io)
• Irish: cíocrach (for food, etc.), amplach, amplúil, antlásach, alpach
• Italian: ingordo (it), avido (it)
• Japanese: 貪欲な (ja) (どんよくな, don'yoku-na)
• Kabuverdianu: laskadu
• Kalmyk: ховдг (xovdg)
• Khmer: លោភលន់ (loŭphlôn), លោភ (km) (loop), លោភោ (km) (loophoo)
• Korean: 욕심 많다 (yoksim manta), 탐욕스럽다 (tamyokseureopda)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Latin: avārus, trahax
• Lun Bawang: mangaa
• Macedonian: алчен (alčen)
• Maori: touapo
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: grådig (no)

  Nynorsk: grådig (no), grådug

• Persian: حریص (fa) (haris), آزمند (fa) (âzmand), رزد (fa) (razd)
• Polish: chciwy (pl) m, skąpy (pl)
• Portuguese: ganancioso
• Russian: жа́дный (ru) (žádnyj), а́лчный (ru) (álčnyj), ненасы́тный (ru) (nenasýtnyj), скупо́й (ru) (skupój), ска́редный (ru) (skárednyj)
• Sardinian: mandigadore, ispasteradu, isgrasumìdu

  Campidanese: abbramiu, asurídu, asuríu

  Logudorese: alarpu, esurídu, isurídu, abbramidu

• Sassarese: abbramidu, ucciòni
• Scottish Gaelic: gionach, sanntach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: похлепан

  Roman: pohlepan (sh)

• Slovak: chtivý, chamtivý, hrabivý, nenásytný
• Slovene: pohlepen (sl)
• Spanish: codicioso, avaricioso (es), ávido (es), avaro (es), avorazado (es) m
• Swedish: girig (sv)
• Telugu: పొగరు (te) (pogaru)
• Thai: โลภ (th) (lôop)
• Tibetan: ཧམ་པ་ཚ་པོ (ham pa tsha po)
• Ukrainian: жа́дібний (žádibnyj), жаді́бний (žadíbnyj), жа́дний (žádnyj), жадни́й (žadnýj), жадли́вий (žadlývyj)
• Vietnamese: tham (vi), tham lam (vi)
• Walloon: tinciveus (wa) m
• West Frisian: gjirrich
• Yiddish: זשעדנע (zhedne)

prone to overeat

• Arabic: شرِه, نهِم
• Bashkir: ҡомһоҙ (qomhoź)
• Bulgarian: лаком (bg) (lakom)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 為食／为食 (wai⁶ sik⁶), 为食 (wai⁶ sik⁶)

• Finnish: ahnas (fi)
• French: gourmand (fr) m
• German: gefräßig
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: falánk (hu)
• Irish: alpach, gionach
• Italian: goloso (it)
• Kabuverdianu: laskadu
• Portuguese: guloso (pt)
• Spanish: glotón (es), tragón (es) (colloquial)
• Tagalog: matakaw
• Walloon: golafe (wa)

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} alpartha
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• greyed