Concupiscent

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kɒnˈkjuːpɪ.sənt/

Definitions

1. Driven by or expressing intense sexual desire or lust
2. Having a strong or passionate desire for sexual experiences and sensual pleasures
3. Showing intense craving related to sexual appetite or passion

Etymology: "Concupiscent" is built from Latin "concupiscens," the present participle of "concupiscere," meaning "to long for" or "to covet." The verb is an inchoative form, which means it signals the beginning of a state: to start desiring something intensely. It grows from "concupere," "to desire greatly," and that from "con-," an intensifying prefix, plus "cupere," "to desire." The same root "cupere" lies behind the English "cupidity," a word for greed, and the god Cupid, whose name shares the desire sense. In English, the adjective kept the Latin sense of strong longing and settled into the narrower territory of sexual appetite. Its noun form, "concupiscence," carried the same sense and was long used in theological writing, where it named the desires that religious teaching held people should resist.

Synonyms: lustful, lecherous, desirous, carnal, sensual

Antonyms: chaste, abstinent, unlustful, innocent, virtuous