Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Covet |
CovetVerb1. Wish, long, or crave for (something, esp. the property of another person); "She covets her sister's house". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "covet" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Desire | Have an eye, have a mind to; find it in one's heart; (be willing); have a fancy for, set one's eyes upon; cast a sheep's eye upon, look sweet upon; take into one's head, have at heart, be bent upon; set one's cap at, set one's heart upon, set one's mind upon; covet. |
Envy | Verb: envy, covet, burst with envy. |
Greed | Verb: covet, crave (desire); grasp; exact, extort. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Covet |
| English words defined with "covet": Coveting ♦ Miscovet ♦ sinning. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "covet": Letter ♦ Pearls. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "covet": Concupiscent. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Thou Shalt Not Covet (1916) California Covet (1995) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Arthur Hugh Clough | Thou shalt not covet; but tradition approves all forms of competition. |
Epictetus | Let death be daily before your eyes, and you will never entertain any abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything. |
Lord Byron | All are inclined to believe what they covet, from a lottery-ticket up to a passport to Paradise. |
Thomas p Kempis | Peace and happiness are what you covet, but these are only to be obtained by labor. |
William Shakespeare | If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The Gauls covet Clusium, Rome protects Clusium, and asks them what Clusium has done to them. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Woodrow Wilson | 1913-1921 | We always professed unselfish purpose and we covet the opportunity to prove our professions are sincere. |
Herbert C. Hoover | 1929-1933 | I covet for this administration a record of having further contributed to advance the cause of peace. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Covet" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 76.32% of the time. "Covet" is used about 38 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 76.32% | 29 | 64,444 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 21.05% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Noun (singular) | 2.63% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 38 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "covet": covet smth.. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
monique covet | 79 |
covet | 22 |
covet monique picture | 8 |
covet not shalt thou | 4 |
covet jpg monique | 3 |
covet monica | 3 |
covet gallery monique | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "covet"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | belus wees op, begeer (desire, wish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | lakmoj (be keen on, envy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | إشتهى ملك غيره. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | желая да имам, ламтя, пожелавам (crave, want, will, wish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 覬 (long for), 垂涎 (coveted, Coveting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | toužit po (crave, long for, pine, sigh, suspire). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | dorsten naar (be thirsty), begeren (desire, wish), azen op. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | avidi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | girnast (exact, requisition, seize). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | میل به تملک چیزی کردن , طمع به چیزی داشتن . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | himoita (desire, feel a desire, have a craving), ahnehtia (be greedy, have a craving). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | convoiter (be covetous of). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | begehren (crave, desire, lust after, lust for, to covet, to desire). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | εποφθαλμιώ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | לחמו" (desire, lust), לאוות (crave, desire eagerly, long for, wish, yearn), לחשוק (desire, love), לא"וב (be fond of, desire, like, love), ל"יות צמא (be thirsty, long for, yearn), ל"תאוות (crave, desire, long for, lust). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | megkíván (need, to covet, to desire, to exact, to necessitate, to require, to suppose), bûnös vágyai vannak. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | merindukan (yearn), iri hati (begrudge, enviableous, envy, spite). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | bramare (aspire, crave, desire, hanker, hunger, long, long for, lust, yearn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 貪る (to covet, to deeply desire, to indulge in, to lust insatiably for), 欲しがる (to covet, to desire, to want, to wish for), 欲張る (to covet, to lust for). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ほしがる (to covet, to desire, to want, to wish for), むさぼる (to covet, to deeply desire, to indulge in, to lust insatiably for), よくばる (to covet, to lust for). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | mooaraghey (begrudging, grudge, stint), cur slaynt da. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ovetcay cobiçar (ache, ambition, desire, long, lust, yen), serávidopor, desejar (ache, aspire, care, crave, desiderate, desire, fancy, have an eye for, hunger, like, list, please, will, wish), ambicionar (ambition, solicit, strive). (various references) cãuta (ferret, forage, fossick, Hunt, look about for, look for, look out, look out for, look up, make a search, nose, quest, search after, search for, seek, seek for, want), râvni (lust after, lust for), ochi (aim, cover, eyes, Gemma, glade, glances, link, loop, mesh, optic, orb, peeper, pink, pip, ring, scan, sight, stitch, suspect, take aim at, take sight, train, vortex), jindui (envy), invidia (begrudge, envy, grudge), dori (be willing to, bid, care for, choose, desire, expect, groan, hunger, like, list, request, sigh for, want, wish). (various references) завидовать (begrudge, envy), жаждать (crave, hanker, starve, yearn). (various references) miannaich (long for, See <A HREF="mf08.html#mèananaich">mèananaich</A>). (various references) žudeti (ache, aspire, crave, hanker, hunger, long for, lust, thirst, yearn). (various references) codiciar (desire, lust). (various references) eftertrakta (aim at, seek after, woo), åtrå (concupiscence, crave, desire, hanker, lust, lust after, lust for, yearning). (various references) อยากไ"้ของผู้อื่น. (various references) imrenmek (desire, emulate, envy), gözü kalmak (begrudge smb. smth., envy, hanker after), gıpta etmek (envy), çok istemek (aspire, be thirsty for, crave, gasp for smth., have an itch to, itch, itch to, raring to, set one's heart on, set one's mind on, slaver for). (various references) imtilmek (be jealous), emenmek. (various references) жадати (ache for, crave, crave for, hunger, pine, thirst, whim, will, wish for), дуже бажати, домагатися (aim, angle, aspire, busk, canvass, come after, cry for, exact, get, go after, hunt for, obtain, pursue, solicit, woo). (various references) chwenychu (desire), chwanta (desire, lust), trachwantu (lust). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | adama, adamantem, adamaret, adamaveris, adamavi, adamavit, concupierat, concupierunt, concupivi, concupivit, cupiditas, inhiabant, inhio. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Romans Chapter 7, Verse 7 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Ti oun eroumen o nomoV amartia mh genoito alla thn amartian ouk egnwn ei mh dia nomou thn te gar epiqumian ouk hdein ei mh o nomoV elegen ouk epiqumhseiV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Quid ergo dicemus lex peccatum est absit sed peccatum non cognovi nisi per legem nam concupiscentiam nesciebam nisi lex diceret non concupisces |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | La hwæt sculon we secgan? Is seo æ synn? Nælles! Huru, ic ne sceolde gecnewen hæbban hwæt sie synn butan þære æ. Forþy ic ne sceolde gecnewen hæbban hwæt sie giernung gif æ ne sægde "Ne gyrn þu."a |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | What therfor schulen we seie? The lawe is synne? God forbede. But Y knew not synne, but bi lawe; for Y wiste not that coueitynge was synne, but for the lawe seide, Thou schalt not coueyte. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | What shall we saye then? is ye lawe synne? God forbid: but I knewe not what synne meant but by the lawe. For I had not knowne what lust had meant excepte the lawe had sayde thou shalt not lust. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | What shall we say then? Is the law sin? By no means. No, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | What then is to be said? is the law sin? in no way. But I would not have had knowledge of sin but for the law: for I would not have been conscious of desire if the law had not said, You may not have a desire for what is another's. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Romans Chapter 7, Verse 7 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Nan, unsa may atong ikasulti? Nga ang kasugoan mao ang sala? Palayo kana! Ngani, kon dili pa ang kasugoan, dili unta ako makailag sala. Dili unta ako makailag unsay pangibog kon ang kasugoan wala pa mag-ingon, "Dili ka /x magkaibog." |
| Croatian | to æemo dakle reæi? Je li Zakon grijeh? Nipošto! Nego: grijeha ne spoznah doli po Zakonu jer za požudu ne bih znao da Zakon nije govorio: Ne poželi! |
| Danish | Hvad skulle vi da sige? er Loven Synd? Det være langt fra! Men jeg kendte ikke Synden uden ved Loven; thi jeg kendte jo ikke Begæringen, hvis ikke Loven sagde: "Du må ikke begære." |
| Dutch | Wat zullen wij dan zeggen? Is de wet zonde? Dat zij verre. Ja, ik kende de zonde niet dan door de wet; want ook had ik de begeerlijkheid niet geweten zonde te zijn, indien de wet niet zeide: Gij zult niet begeren. |
| Finnish | Mitä siis sanomme? Onko laki syntiä? Pois se! Mutta syntiä en olisi tullut tuntemaan muuten kuin lain kautta; sillä en minä olisi tiennyt himosta, ellei laki olisi sanonut: "Älä himoitse". |
| French | Que dirons-nous donc? La loi est-elle péché? Loin de l ! Mais je n`ai connu le péché que par la loi. Car je n`aurais pas connu la convoitise, si la loi n`eût dit: Tu ne convoiteras point. |
| German | Was wollen wir denn nun sagen? Ist das Gesetz Sünde? Das sei ferne! Aber die Sünde erkannte ich nicht, außer durchs Gesetz. Denn ich wußte nichts von der Lust, wo das Gesetz nicht hätte gesagt: "Laß dich nicht gelüsten!" |
| Haitian Creole | ¶ Nan kondisyon sa a, kisa n'a di? Eske lalwa se peche? Non, wete sa nan tèt ou. Men, se lalwa a ki fè m' konnen sa peche ye. Se konsa mwen pa ta janm konnen kisa ki rele gen lanvi, si lalwa pa t' di m': Piga ou janm pote lanvi sou sak pa pou nou. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Kalau begitu, apakah yang dapat kita katakan? Bahwa hukum agama Yahudi jahat? Tentu tidak! Tetapi hukum itulah yang mengajar saya tentang dosa. Saya tidak akan tahu tamak itu apa, kalau hukum agama tidak mengatakan, "Janganlah tamak." |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Apakah sekarang hendak kita katakan? Hukum Taurat itu dosakah? Sekali-kali tidak. Hanya aku tiada tahu dosa, jikalau tiada sebab hukum Taurat itu, karena tiada aku tahu akan hal tamak, jikalau tiada Taurat itu mengatakan: Janganlah engkau tamak! |
| Maori | ¶ Kia pehea ra he kupu ma tatou? He hara ranei te ture? Kahore rapea. Engari kihai ahau i matau ki te hara, me i kaua te ture: kahore hoki ahau i mohio ki te hiahia apo, me i kaua te ture te mea mai, Aua koe e hiahia apo. |
| Norwegian | Hvad skal vi da si? er loven synd? Langt derifra! men jeg kjente ikke synden uten ved loven; for begjærligheten kjente jeg ikke dersom ikke loven hadde sagt: Du skal ikke begjære. |
| Portuguese | Que diremos pois? É a lei pecado? De modo nenhum. Contudo, eu não conheci o pecado senão pela lei; porque eu não conheceria a concupiscência, se a lei não dissesse: Não cobiçarás. |
| Rumanian | Deci ce vom zice? Legea este ceva pqcqtos? Nici de cum! Dimpotrivq, pqcatul nu l-am cunoscut deckt prin Lege. De pildq, n`aw fi cunoscut pofta, dacq Legea nu mi-ar fi spus: ,,Sq nu poftewti!`` |
| Shuar | ¶ Núnisaitkiuinkia "Akupkamu yajauchiiti" ¿titiajiash? Atsá. Warí, akupkamuka tunaan ti paant awajeawai. Akupkamu "Chikichna wakerukaip" Táchakuinkia wakerukchaajai. |
| Spanish | ¿Qué, pues, diremos? ¿Que la ley es pecado? ¡De ninguna manera! Al contrario, yo no habría conocido el pecado sino por medio de la ley; porque no estaría consciente de la codicia, si la ley no dijera: No codiciarás. |
| Swahili | Je, tuseme basi, kwamba Sheria ni dhambi? Hata kidogo! Lakini bila Sheria, mimi nisingalijua dhambi ni kitu gani. Maana, nisingalijua ni nini hasa kutamani mabaya, kama Sheria isingalikuwa imesema: "Usitamani." |
| Swedish | Vad skola vi då säga? Är lagen synd? Bort det! Men synden skulle jag icke hava lärt känna, om icke genom lagen; ty jag hade icke vetat av begärelsen, om icke lagen hade sagt: "Du skall icke hava begärelse." |
| Uma | ¶ Ta'uli' we'i Kristus mpobahaka-ta ngkai Atura Pue'. Aga neo' ta'uli' hewa toi: dada'a-hana Atura Pue'. Uma makono lolita toe! Atura Pue' lompe', apa' ngkai Atura Pue' toe ta'inca napa to rahanga' jeko'. Ane rapa' -na uma ria parenta to mpo'uli': "Neo' mpokahina anu doo," ke uma-hawo ku'incai kadada'a-na hina to hi rala nono-ku. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "covet": covetable, coveted, coveter, coveters, coveting, covetingly, covetous, covetously, covetousness, covetousnesses, covets. (additional references) | |
| |
"Covet" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: caevet, cavat, cavent, cavet, cavete, ceavet, cevaet, cevent, Chovet, cobet, coet, coft, coget, coiet, coket, conet, conveat, convet, cooet, corvent, couve, couvet, covat, Covatta, covay, coveat, covec, covel, covete, coveth, covex, covi, covit, covnt, Covox, cowet, cuft, cuvet, cvet, dovet, hovet, kove, Krovetz, loveth, moveth, novit, ovet, povet. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "covet" (pronounced ku"vut) |
| 3 | -v u t | affidavit, civet, pivot, private, rivet, velvet. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-o-t-v" | |
-1 letter: cote, cove, veto, vote. | |
-2 letters: cot, toe, vet, voe. | |
-3 letters: et, oe, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-o-t-v" | |
+1 letter: avocet, corvet, covert, covets, octave, vector. | |
+2 letters: avocets, cavetto, centavo, cheviot, convect, convent, convert, corvets, costive, coverts, coveted, coveter, cutover, dovecot, evictor, octaves, overact, overcut, vectors, vicomte. | |
+3 letters: advocate, caveator, cavettos, cavorted, cavorter, centavos, cheviots, coactive, coinvent, conative, contrive, convects, convents, converts, corvette, covalent, covenant, coverlet, covertly, coveters, coveting, covetous, cutovers, dovecote, dovecots, evection, eviction, evictors, evocator, invocate, locative, orective, outcurve, outvoice, overacts, overcast, overcoat, overcuts, vectored, velocity, vicomtes, vocative, vortices. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Familiar 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Quotations: Speeches 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Bible Trace 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
