kyoo-PID-ih-tee

Definition

(noun) Greed for money or possessions; excessive desire for wealth or material gain.

Example

The executive’s cupidity was laid bare in court when prosecutors revealed he had been skimming from the pension fund for nearly a decade.

Word Origin

From Latin cupiditas, meaning “desire or longing” — derived from cupere, meaning “to desire.” The same root gives us Cupid, the Roman god of desire, and covet. In classical Latin, cupiditas carried a broader sense of longing for anything, but English borrowed it specifically in its most acquisitive sense — the desire for wealth and material things above all else. The word entered English in the 15th century and has retained its precise, unflattering meaning ever since.