lust
pronunciation
How to pronounce lust in British English:
UK [lʌst]
How to pronounce lust in American English:
US [lʌst]
-
- Noun:
- a strong sexual desire
- self-indulgent sexual desire (personified as one of the deadly sins)
-
- Verb:
- have a craving, appetite, or great desire for
Word Origin
- lust
- lust: [OE] Lust is a Germanic word; it goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *lust-, which as well as English lust had produced German lust (now used for ‘pleasure’ rather than ‘desire’). Swedish lust ‘inclination, pleasure, desire’ was borrowed from Low German. From the same Germanic ancestor came the now archaic verb list ‘desire’, source of listless. And it is possible that lascivious [15], acquired from late Latin lascīviōsus, may ultimately be related.=> lascivious, listless
- lust (n.)
- Old English lust "desire, appetite, pleasure; sensuous appetite," from Proto-Germanic *lustuz (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch, German lust, Old Norse lyst, Gothic lustus "pleasure, desire, lust"), from PIE *las- "to be eager, wanton, or unruly" (cognates: Latin lascivus "wanton, playful, lustful;" see lascivious). In Middle English, "any source of pleasure or delight," also "an appetite," also "a liking for a person," also "fertility" (of soil). Sense of "sinful sexual desire, degrading animal passion" (now the main meaning) developed in late Old English from the word's use in Bible translations (such as lusts of the flesh to render Latin concupiscentia carnis [I John ii:16]); the cognate words in other Germanic languages tend still to mean simply "pleasure."
- lust (v.)
- c. 1200, "to wish, to desire," from lust (n.) and Old English lystan (see list (v.4)). Sense of "to have a strong sexual desire (for or after)" is first attested 1520s in biblical use. Related: Lusted; lusting.
Example
- 1. How do you keep chemistry from fading like lust does ?
- 2. And when you 're lust for adventure fades , so will your relationship .
- 3. The original unicorn also resembled a goat traditionally associated with untamed lust rather than a horse .
- 4. Chemistry is something that you feel uncontrollably and is just one step further in the passion department but is more powerful than lust .
- 5. The thought and pursuit of sex progressively dominate our lives until we are caught up in a cycle of endless lust or romantic obsession .