enviable

Etymology

It is formed from English envy + -able, from the verb,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} though Etymonline allows that it may also come from French enviable.^[7] The verb envy is from Old French envier (“to envy, be envious of”), from envie, from Latin invidia (“envy, jealousy”), from invidus (“envious”) and invideō (“to look at with malice, to envy”), formed from in- (“upon”) and videō (“to see”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

That is to be envied: 1602, in Richard Carew's Survey of Cornwall.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600,^[7] and Dictionary.com to 1595–1605.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined the word as "deserving envy; such as may excite envy", quoting Carew's phrase "an enviable mediocrity of fortune".^[8] Modern dictionaries stress the positive side, "highly desirable" or "fortunate, privileged",^[3][9] and the negative unenviable has grown up beside it.^[6]

Timeline

• 1602 – that is to be envied, such as to arouse envy.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Such as to arouse envy; highly desirable, fortunate or privileged: The team had an enviable record of wins at home.^[3][9][2]

Word family

• enviably
• enviableness
• unenviable

Related words

• envy
• envious
• invidious

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins