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envy

Pronunciation: /ˈɛnvi/

The English word “envy” has 14 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).
  2. An object of envious notice or feeling.
  3. Hatred, enmity, ill-feeling.
  4. Emulation; rivalry.
  5. Public odium; ill repute.
  6. A red-skinned variety of eating apple.

verb

  1. To feel displeasure or hatred towards (someone) for their good fortune or possessions.
  2. To resentfully or discontentedly desire (something someone else has that one lacks).
  3. To have envious feelings (at).
  4. To give (something) to (someone) grudgingly or reluctantly; to begrudge.
  5. To show malice or ill will; to rail.
  6. To do harm to; to injure; to disparage.
  7. To hate.
  8. To emulate.

Etymology

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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