greediness

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɡridinəs/ UK /ˈɡriːdinəs/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of wanting more than one's fair share

His greediness left nothing for the others at the table.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of wanting more... greed avarice cupidity covetousness rapacityacquisitiveness

Opposites

generosity temperance selflessness

Word family

Related forms greedy greed greedyguts

Etymology

From greedy + -ness. Greedy is from Old English grædig ('hungry, covetous'), from Proto-Germanic *grēdugaz, from *grēduz ('hunger').

grædig Old English *grēduz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# greediness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈɡridinəs
**IPA (UK):** ˈɡriːdinəs

## Meanings
1. the quality of wanting more than one's fair share

## Examples
- His greediness left nothing for the others at the table.

## Synonyms
- greed
- avarice
- cupidity
- covetousness
- rapacity
- acquisitiveness

## Antonyms
- generosity
- temperance
- selflessness

## Related Forms
- greedy
- greed
- greedyguts

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: grædig
- Root: *grēduz

## Etymology
From greedy + -ness. Greedy is from Old English grædig ('hungry, covetous'), from Proto-Germanic *grēdugaz, from *grēduz ('hunger').

## AI Etymology
Greediness comes from greedy + -ness. Greedy is from Old English grædig ('hungry, covetous'), from Proto-Germanic *grēdugaz, from *grēduz ('hunger'). Morphologically, the account is both compositional and suffixal: -ness marks the visible structure by which the older base becomes the modern form. In present use, it is used as a noun meaning "the quality of wanting more than one's fair share", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes related forms such as greedy, greed, and greedyguts, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Old English grædig and Proto-Germanic *grēduz, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood is marked by greed, avarice, cupidity, and covetousness on one side and contrasts such as generosity, temperance, and selflessness on the other, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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