Envious

How to spell envious

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce envious

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does envious mean?

1. adjectiveFeeling discontented or resentful longing for someone else's possessions, qualities, or success.

Envious in a sentence

• She was envious of her colleague's corner office and generous salary.

• He felt envious watching his neighbour drive home in a brand new car.

Where does envious come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin invidiosus, meaning 'full of envy', which was built on invidia, the noun for envy or ill will. That noun in turn came from the verb invidere, literally 'to look upon' or 'to look against', from in- 'upon, against' and videre 'to see'; the Romans pictured envy as a hostile, grudging glance directed at another person's good fortune. English took the word in during the 1300s through Old French, where invidiosus had softened into envious, and the initial 'in-' had already eroded to 'en-'. The same videre root for seeing survives in everyday words such as 'video', 'vision', and 'evident', which is a useful reminder that envy was first imagined as a kind of looking. Because the spelling keeps the Latin -ious ending rather than a plain -ous, the unstressed final syllable is the main trap for writers.

How the word is built

• env- (from Latin invidia: envy, ill will)
• -ious (adjective suffix: full of)