lust
/ˈlʌst/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.72 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Seeing Leslie fills me with a passionate lust."
- "The boarders hide their lust to go home."
- "For little luſt had ſhe to talke of ought, […]"
- "[T]he vvorld thruſts it ſelfe betvvixt me and heauen; and, by his darke and indigeſted parts, eclipſeth that light vvhich ſhined to my ſoule. Novv, a ſenſeleſſe dulneſſe ouer-takes mee, and beſots mee; my luſt to deuotion is little, my ioy none at all: Gods face is hid, and I am troubled."
- "An ideal son is his father's lasting lust."
- "Pompe, pryde, honour, ryches, and wordly lust, / Parrot sayth playnly, shall tourne all to dust."
Etymology
From Middle English lust, from Old English lust (“lust, pleasure, longing”), from Proto-West Germanic *lustu, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz. Akin to Old Saxon, Dutch lust, Old Frisian, Old High German, German Lust, Swedish lust, Danish lyst, Icelandic lyst, Old Norse losti, Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (lustus), and perhaps to Sanskrit लष् (laṣ), लषति (laṣati, “to desire”) and Albanian lushë (“bitch, savage dog, promiscuous woman”), or to English loose. Compare list (“to please”), listless.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: lust, *lustu, *lustuz, lusten
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈlʌst/
- British English: /ˈlʌst/
Usage
Inflected Forms
lusts (plural)
lusts (present, singular)
lusting (participle, present)
lusted (participle, past)
lusted (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
lusted (first person, past)
lustest (archaic, present)
lusted (past, second person)
lustedst (archaic, past)
lusteth (archaic, present)