Mind & EmotionGreek → English
Jealous
/ˈdʒɛləs/adjective
Resentful of someone else's advantages, or fiercely protective of what one holds.
The Greek roots
ζῆλος
zêlos
ardour, rivalry, emulation
Literally: “full of zeal”
Follow a root:ζῆλος4 words
The story of the word
ζῆλος meant heat: ambition, emulation, the burn of wanting what another person has, and Greek could use it as praise. Late Latin zelus went down the spoken road to Old French gelos and gave English jealous around 1200, while the learned road delivered zeal and zealous from the identical word. The jealous God of the English Bible and a zealous volunteer are therefore doing the same thing, one of them under a worse name.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- c. 1200
Same family
zealzealouszealotjealousy
In a sentence
He was jealous of the attention, and honest enough to say so.
The committee is jealous of its right to approve every appointment.