Lechour

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a man who is excessively lustful and driven by sexual appetite
2. A man given to lewd, sensual indulgence, especially one who pursues sexual pleasure without restraint
3. Describing a dissolute male libertine whose conduct is marked by unchecked sexual desire

Etymology: Lechery began as a verb for licking. Old French "lechier" meant "to lick" and, by extension, "to live in dissolute indulgence," a sense that followed the same path from tasting to appetite. It descends from a Germanic root related to English "lick," which passed into Old French from Frankish. From "lechier" came "lecheor," a glutton or debauchee, and English borrowed it in the Middle English period as "lechour," meaning a man given to lust. The modern "lecher" is a later shortening of that form, and "lechery" developed from the same French family. Some ideas and phrases from the medieval period still show the word's original emphasis on indulgence rather than sex alone.

Synonyms: lecher, libertine, rake, roué, debauchee

Antonyms: chaste person, celibate, ascetic