covetous
/ˈkʌvətəs/adjective
covetous is spelled C-O-V-E-T-O-U-S: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 83,271st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, covetous means “Distastefully desirous or keen, especially for something belonging to someone else; avaricious” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in covetous?
| Letters | 8: C-O-V-E-T-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 8 million words; the 83,271st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is covetous?
Covetous appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 83,271st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce covetous?
- /ˈkʌvətəs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-covetous.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of covetous
- more covetous comparative
- most covetous superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does covetous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Distastefully desirous or keen, especially for something belonging to someone else; avaricious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Covetous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense distastefully desirous or keen – see also avaricious:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does covetous come from?
From Middle English coveitous, from Anglo-Norman *cuveitus, from Medieval Latin as if *cupiditosus, from Latin cupiditas (“desire”); see covet.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).