rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryRoot: in-
Latin

in-

in, into, on, upon

Forms

  • in-
  • im- — Used before b, m, or p in Latin.
  • il- — Used before l in Latin.
  • ir- — Used before r in Latin.
  • en- — Developed in French in some words later borrowed into English.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *en, ‘in.’

Note

Identical spellings can hide two different prefixes: this one indicates position or direction, while the other means ‘not.’

33 / 306
An older man holding a small, plain fish casts a resentful sideways stare at the much larger fish proudly held by the woman fishing beside him.
noun / verb

envy

EN-vee/ˈenvi/

A resentful desire for what someone else has.

Etymology
enLatinin, into, on, upon
+vyLatinsee

The image is looking upon someone with malice: the ancestral verb meant casting an evil eye before it meant envying. That hostile gaze connects seeing another person's advantages with resenting them.

Full entry

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