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greedy. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
greedy, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
greedy in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
greedy you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English gredy, from Anglian Old English grēdiġ (“greedy, hungry, eager”) (cognate West Saxon form grǣdiġ), 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 (“greedy”), Dutch graag (“gladly, willingly”), 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
Adjective
greedy (comparative greedier, superlative greediest)
- 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[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:“ […] 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.”
- Prone to overeat.
- (regular expressions) Tending to match as much text as possible.
- Antonyms: lazy, nongreedy, reluctant
- (computer science, of an algorithm) That tries to find the global optimum by finding the local optimum at each stage.
- Antonym: nongreedy
- (archaic) Greedily sought or pursued.
c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:Suppoſe they be in number infinit,
Yet being voyd of Martiall diſcipline,
All running headlong after greedie ſpoiles: […]
Their careleſſe ſwords ſhal lanch their fellows throats
And make vs triumph in their ouerthrow.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
having greed; consumed by selfish desires
- Afrikaans: gulsig
- Albanian: lakmitar (sq)
- Arabic: طَمَّاع (ṭammāʕ), جَشِع (jašiʕ), بَخِيل (baḵīl)
- 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 (ca), cobdiciós, cobejós, avar (ca), àvid
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 貪心/贪心 (taam1 sam1)
- Mandarin: 貪婪的/贪婪的 (zh) (tānlán-de), 貪心的/贪心的 (zh) (tānxīn-de)
- Czech: chtivý, chamtivý (cs), hamižný
- Dalmatian: golaus, gulaus
- Danish: grådig
- Dutch: hebzuchtig (nl)
- Esperanto: avida (eo)
- Estonian: ahne (et)
- Finnish: ahne (fi)
- French: avaricieux (fr), cupide (fr), avide (fr)
- Galician: cobizoso, degorado m, eigoto m, intivioso m
- 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: חמדן m (khamdán)
- Hindi: कंजूस (hi) (kañjūs)
- Hungarian: mohó (hu), kapzsi (hu)
- Icelandic: gráðugur
- Ido: avida (io)
- Ingrian: ahmo
- Irish: cíocrach (for food, etc.), amplach, amplúil, antlásach, alpach, santach
- Italian: ingordo (it), avido (it)
- Jamaican Creole: craven
- Japanese: 貪欲な (ja) (どんよくな, don'yoku-na)
- Kabuverdianu: laskadu, langon
- Kalmyk: ховдг (xovdg)
- Khmer: លោភលន់ (loŭphlôn), លោភ (km) (loop), លោភោ (km) (loophoo)
- Korean: 욕심 많다 (yoksim manta), 탐욕스럽다 (tamyokseureopda)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: چاو برسی (çaw birsî)
- Latin: avārus, avidus (la), trahax
- Lun Bawang: mangaa
- Macedonian: алчен (alčen)
- Maori: touapo
- Nepali: लोभी (ne) (lobhī)
- Norman: grédin
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: grådig (no)
- Nynorsk: grådig (no), grådug
- Occitan: cobejós (oc), avid (oc)
- Old English: ġīfre
- Persian: حریص (fa) (haris), آزمند (fa) (âzmand), رژد (fa) (ražd)
- Plautdietsch: bejierich
- Polish: chciwy (pl) m, skąpy (pl)
- Portuguese: ganancioso (pt), avaro (pt)
- Punjabi: ਲਾਲਚੀ (lālcī)
- 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 (es), avaricioso (es), ávido (es), avaro (es), avorazado (es), angurriento (es)
- Swedish: girig (sv)
- Telugu: పొగరు (te) (pogaru)
- Thai: โลภ (th) (lôop)
- Tibetan: ཧམ་པ་ཚ་པོ (ham pa tsha po)
- Tocharian B: entsesse
- Turkish: açgözlü (tr)
- Ukrainian: жа́дібний (žádibnyj), жаді́бний (žadíbnyj), жа́дний (žádnyj), жадни́й (žadnýj), жадли́вий (žadlývyj)
- Vietnamese: tham (vi), tham lam (vi)
- Walloon: tinciveus (wa) m
- Welsh: barus (cy), gwancus (cy)
- West Frisian: gjirrich
- Yiddish: זשעדנע (zhedne), גיריק (girik), אײַנרײַסעריש (aynrayserish)
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Translations to be checked
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