sybarite
pronunciation
How to pronounce sybarite in British English:
UK ['sɪbəraɪt]
How to pronounce sybarite in American English:
US ['sɪbəˌraɪt]
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- Noun:
- a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses
Word Origin
- sybarite
- sybarite: [16] Sybaris was an ancient Greek colony in southern Italy. It was a flourishing trading centre, and its inhabitants put their considerable wealth to the service of unrestrained self-indulgence. Their luxurious and debauched ways became a byword in the ancient world, and Greek Subarítēs ‘inhabitant of Sybaris’ came to be synonymous with ‘pleasure-seeker’, and also with ‘lecher’ – both heterosexual and homosexual. English acquired the word via Latin Sybarīta, and has rather toned down its connotations.
- sybarite (n.)
- "person devoted to pleasure," 1590s, literally "inhabitant of Sybaris," ancient Greek town in southern Italy, whose people were noted for their love of luxury. From Latin Sybarita, from Greek Sybarites.