Etymograph

English

greedy

Greedy comes from Middle English gredy ‘Overexcited’, from Anglian Old English grēdiġ ‘greedy, hungry, eager’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- ‘to yearn for’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰer-1‘to yearn for’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grēdaz1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grēdagaz1‘hungry’reconstructed
  4. Anglian Old Englishmoderngrēdiġ1‘greedy, hungry, eager’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gredy1‘Overexcited’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588greedy1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English greedy
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Suppoſe they be in number infinit, Yet being voyd…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰer-Wiktionary, English greedy‘to yearn for’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grēdazWiktionary, English greedyreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grēdagazWiktionary, English greedy‘hungry’reconstructed
  4. Anglian Old EnglishmoderngrēdiġWiktionary, English greedy‘greedy, hungry, eager’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gredyWiktionary, English greedy‘Overexcited’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588greedyWiktionary, English greedy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Suppoſe they be in number infinit, Yet being voyd…”

The story

Sanskrit गृद्धि (gṛddhi, “greed”) is a false cognate.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- ‘to yearn for’

grand, grill, charismatic, grit, yearn, chromatic, growl, grime, yar, grout, grisly, ochre, grist, grimace, exhort, 17 more

Today it means

adj Having greed; consumed by selfish desires.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “greedy”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- / greedy

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