greedy

A2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɡɹiːdi/ See IPA manual

Freq #5662

Meanings

1

adj
Wanting much more money, food, or power than you need.

He was so greedy that he kept all the money for himself.
2

adj
Wanting to eat or drink more than is reasonable.

Don't be greedy with the cookies; leave some for your sister.
3

adj
Very eager for something, often too eager.

The children were greedy for praise from their teacher.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · wanting much more money,... avaricious covetous grasping

2 adj · wanting to eat or drink... gluttonous

3 adj · very eager for something,... esurient

More acquisitive cormorant edacious miserable miserlypiggishrapacious selfish

Word family

Forms greediergreediest

Derived forms greed greedily greediness greedygutsovergreedyungreedy

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 *gʰer-. 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”). Sanskrit गृद्धि (gṛddhi, “greed”) is a false cognate…

gredy Middle English grēdiġ ang-ang *grēdagaz Proto-Germanic *grēdaz Proto-Germanic *gʰer- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# greedy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈɡɹiːdi/
**Frequency rank:** 5662

## Meanings
1. Wanting much more money, food, or power than you need.
2. Wanting to eat or drink more than is reasonable.
3. Very eager for something, often too eager.

## Examples
- He was so greedy that he kept all the money for himself.
- Don't be greedy with the cookies; leave some for your sister.
- The children were greedy for praise from their teacher.

## Synonyms
- acquisitive
- avaricious
- cormorant
- covetous
- edacious
- esurient
- grasping
- miserable
- miserly
- piggish
- rapacious
- selfish

## Derived Forms
- greed
- greedily
- greediness
- greedyguts
- overgreedy
- ungreedy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: gredy
- Root: grēdiġ
- Root: *grēdagaz
- Root: *grēdaz
- Root: *gʰer-

## 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 *gʰer-. 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”). Sanskrit गृद्धि (gṛddhi, “greed”) is a false cognate…

## AI Etymology
Greedy comes 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 *gʰer-. 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”). In current use, the main senses are “Wanting much more money, food, or power than you need” and “Wanting to eat or drink more than is reasonable”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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