desirous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English desirous,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman desirous, also desirus,^[4][5] compare Old French desireus, now French désireux.^[4][6][2] The OED derives the French word from Medieval Latin desiderosus, recorded in an undated glossary,^[4] and Etymonline and Klein call this form Vulgar Latin.^[5][7] It is built on the stem of Latin dēsīderō (“to long for, wish for”), the source of desire, with the suffix -ōsus, the source of -ous.^[4][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged instead takes the French adjective as formed within French from desir and the suffix -eus.^[2] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1120–40, as "desirable" and "eager for".^[8] Compare Italian desideroso, from the 13th century, and Old Occitan desiros.^[4] Metre suggests that in early use the stress fell on the first and third syllables.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having a wish to do something: c. 1390, in the Vernon manuscript poem Swete Ihesu Now.^[4] Chaucer's Tale of Melibee, of about the same date, has "no thyng desirous ne coueitous of good ne richesse".^[3] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1250–1300.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word's main use has barely moved since Middle English.^[4][3] It was built with an infinitive in about 1390, with of before 1393 and with a clause from 1549;^[4] Chaucer has it nine times.^[10] Gower also used it for "very willing, zealous", especially for eagerness in battle, a sense that lasted to 1661.^[4][2] From about 1425 it could describe feelings and actions as expressing longing, sometimes with a hint of envy or possessiveness, as in Hoccleve,^[4] or the thing wanted rather than the person wanting it, "desirable, lovely", as in Lydgate;^[4] this was already in the Anglo-Norman word.^[8][4] Johnson (1755) gave "full of desire; eager; longing after; wishing for".^[11] In later use the OED notes an application to romantic or sexual desire.^[4] Collins describes the word as usually placed after the word it describes and followed by of.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – having a wish to do something, with an infinitive.^[4]
• before 1393 – wishing for something, with of; also very willing, eager, zealous (obsolete by 1661), both in Gower.^[4][3]
• c. 1425 – that causes desire, lovely, in Lydgate; of feelings or actions, expressing longing, in Hoccleve.^[4]
• before 1500 – used without a following construction.^[4]
• before 1525 – longing for something lost, regretful (rare, obsolete).^[4]
• 1549 – with a clause stating what is desired, in Baldwin.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a wish or longing; eager, usually placed after the word it describes and followed by of, to or that: The minister was desirous of a quieter life.^[12][2][4]
2. Of feelings or actions: expressing desire or longing, sometimes in a covetous way.^[4][2]
3. (archaic) Desirable or lovely.^[2][4][6]
4. (obsolete, before 1393–1661) Eager and spirited, especially in combat.^[4][2][6]

Word family

• desirously
• desirousness
• nondesirous
• overdesirous
• undesirous

Related words

• desire
• desirable
• desiderate
• consider

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins