desire

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dɪˈzaɪə/, US /dɪˈzaɪ.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English desiren,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French desirer (“to wish, desire, long for”), desirrer, 12th century,^[2][4] from Latin dēsīderāre (“to long for, wish for; to miss; to demand, expect”),^[2][4][5] the original sense perhaps being “to await what the stars will bring”,^[2][4] from the phrase dē sīdere “from the stars”, from sīdus (“heavenly body, star, constellation”) (genitive sīderis).^[2][4][3] The noun is from Old French desir, from the verb.^[4][6][5] It is related to desiderate, sidereal and consider.^[7][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, “to wish or long for”: probably about 1200 in Barnhart and Etymonline,^[4][2] about 1230 in the OED.^[8] The noun, a craving or yearning: probably before 1300 in Arthour and Merlin,^[4] about 1300 in Etymonline,^[2] and 1303 in the OED.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The noun meant also sensual appetite, lust, from about 1300,^[2] about 1340 in the OED;^[8] a request or petition, a wish stated in words, from about 1340;^[8] and “that which is longed for” from the mid-14th century.^[2][8] Trench notes that to desire once also meant to look back with regret on something lost but still loved, as in the Authorized Version's “departed without being desired” (2 Chronicles 21:20); it now only looks forward.^[9][8] Desirous is from before 1300,^[4] and desirable from before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – verb, to long for.^[4][2]
• a. 1300 – noun, a longing, and desirous.^[4]
• c. 1340 – lust; a request.^[8]
• mid-14th century – the thing desired.^[2]
• a. 1382 – desirable.^[4]
• c. 1611 – regret for something lost.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To wish or long for; to want strongly.
2. To express a wish for; to request.
3. To feel sexual desire for.

Noun

1. A strong wish or longing.
2. A request or petition.
3. The object of longing: my heart's desire.
4. Sexual appetite; passion.

Word family

• desirer
• desiredness
• desireless
• desiringly

Related words

• desideratum
• desirable
• desirability
• sidereal
• desirous
• desiderate
• consider

Usage notes

The American Heritage groups desire with covet, crave, want and wish as verbs meaning “to have a strong longing for”.^[10]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin