jealous
pronunciation
How to pronounce jealous in British English:
UK [ˈdʒeləs]
How to pronounce jealous in American English:
US [ˈdʒeləs]
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- Adjective:
- showing extreme cupidity; painfully desirous of another's advantages
- suspicious or unduly suspicious or fearful of being displaced by a rival
Word Origin
- jealous
- jealous: [13] Etymologically, jealousy and zeal are two sides of the same coin. Both come ultimately from Greek zelos. This passed into post-classical Latin as zēlus, which later produced the adjective zēlōsus. Old French took this over as gelos or jelous and passed it on to English. The Greek word denoted ‘jealousy’ as well as ‘fervour, enthusiasm’, and it is this strand of meaning that has come down to us in jealous. Jalousie, incidentally, the French equivalent of jealousy, was borrowed into English in the 19th century in the sense ‘blind, shutter’ – the underlying notion apparently being that one can look through the slats without oneself being seen.=> zeal
- jealous (adj.)
- c. 1200, gelus, later jelus (early 14c.), "possessive and suspicious," originally in the context of sexuality or romance; in general use late 14c.; also in a more positive sense, "fond, amorous, ardent," from c. 1300, from Old French jalos "keen, zealous; avaricious; jealous" (12c., Modern French jaloux), from Late Latin zelosus, from zelus "zeal," from Greek zelos, sometimes "jealousy," but more often in a good sense ("emulation, rivalry, zeal"). See zeal. In biblical language (early 13c.) "tolerating no unfaithfulness." Most of the words for 'envy' ... had from the outset a hostile force, based on 'look at' (with malice), 'not love,' etc. Conversely, most of those which became distinctive terms for 'jealousy' were originally used also in a good sense, 'zeal, emulation.' [Buck, pp.1138-9] Among the ways to express this in other tongues are Swedish svartsjuka, literally "black-sick," from phrase bara svarta strumpor "wear black stockings," also "be jealous." Danish skinsyg "jealous," literally "skin-sick," is from skind "hide, skin" said to be explained by Swedish dialectal expression fa skinn "receive a refusal in courtship."
Example
- 1. The result is enough to make any backyard stargazer incredibly jealous .
- 2. But we are all jealous of one another , which is another way of belittling the king .
- 3. A property tax , a clampdown on tax evasion , pension reform and a tax on luxury goods appear to tick all those italian boxes that make other europeans jealous .
- 4. Any jealous kreuzbergers who found their way to the alternative site may have realised how unthreatening the project is .
- 5. Stopping to talk to hank , I realized I was actually a tad jealous of his simple life and loyal friend .