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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

envy.

Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).

4 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɛnvi/
  1. Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).

    countable · uncountable
  2. An object of envious notice or feeling.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Hatred, enmity, ill-feeling.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  4. Emulation; rivalry.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  5. Public odium; ill repute.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  6. A red-skinned variety of eating apple.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Old French enviebor. Middle English envie English envy From Middle English envie, from Old French envie, from Latin invidia (“envy”), from invidere (“to look at with malice”), from in- (“on, upon”) + videre (“to look, see”). Doublet of envie. Cognate to Proto-Slavic *zavistь (“envy”). Displaced native Old English æfest and Old English nīþ.

verb/ˈɛnvi/
  1. To feel displeasure or hatred towards (someone) for their good fortune or possessions.

    transitive
  2. To resentfully or discontentedly desire (something someone else has that one lacks).

    transitive
  3. To have envious feelings (at).

    intransitive · obsolete
  4. To give (something) to (someone) grudgingly or reluctantly; to begrudge.

    obsolete · transitive
  5. To show malice or ill will; to rail.

    obsolete
  6. To do harm to; to injure; to disparage.

    obsolete
  7. To hate.

    obsolete
  8. To emulate.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Old French enviebor. Middle English envie English envy From Middle English envie, from Old French envie, from Latin invidia (“envy”), from invidere (“to look at with malice”), from in- (“on, upon”) + videre (“to look, see”). Doublet of envie. Cognate to Proto-Slavic *zavistь (“envy”). Displaced native Old English æfest and Old English nīþ.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.