Where does “avaricious” come from?
Avaricious comes from Middle English avaricious, from Old French avaricieux, derived from Old French avarice, from Latin avaritia meaning greed, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂ew-.
avaricious (English): Actuated by avarice; extremely greedy for wealth...
Definitions
- Actuated by avarice; extremely greedy for wealth...
Ancestry of “avaricious”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | avaricious | — |
| 2 | Old French | avaricieux | avaricious; miserly; stingy |
| 3 | Old French | avarice | greed; avarice |
| 4 | Latin | avāritia | — |
| 5 | Latin | -itia | -ness, -ity |
| 6 | Latin | -ia | Used to form a feminine abstract noun, usually... |
| 7 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |
Words derived from “avaricious”