lecherous

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   given to excessive indulgence in sexual activity

   They had a lecherous gleam in their eye as they stared at the youths.

Simplified etymology

Lecherous came in Middle English from Old French lechier “to lick,” which derives from a Frankish word sharing a root with lick. Its association with desire arose because the adjective originally referred both to sexual indulgence and to gluttony.

From Middle English lecherous, licherous, from Old French *lecherous (attested in Old French lecherousement (“lecherously”)), from Old French lecherie, licherie (“gluttony, sensuality, lewdness, lechery”), from Old French lecher, lechier, lekier, lescher (“to lick, live in gluttony or sensuality”), from Old Frankish *lekkōn, *likkōn (“to lick”), from Proto-Germanic *likkōną (“to lick”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”), equivalent to lecher + -ous. More at lick.

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