# desire
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English desire (noun) and desiren (verb), from Old French desirer, desirrer, from Latin dēsīderō (“to long for, desire, feel the want of, miss, regret”), apparently from de- + sidus (in the phrase de sidere, "from the stars") in connection with astrological hopes. Compare consider and desiderate. Displaced native Old English wilnung (“desire”) and wilnian (“to desire”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: dĭ-zīrʹ, dĭ-zīʹər, IPA: /dɪˈzaɪə/
* (General American) enPR: dĭ-zīrʹ, dĭ-zīʹər, dē-zīrʹ, dē-zīʹər, IPA: /dɪˈzaɪɹ/, /dɪˈzaɪɚ/, /diˈzaɪɹ/, /diˈzaɪɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: de‧sire
* Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

### Verb

desire (third-person singular simple present desires, present participle desiring, simple past and past participle desired)
* To want; to wish for earnestly.
    I desire to speak with you.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 34:24:Neither shall any man desire thy land.
** 1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Lancelot and Elaine”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; VI), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 88:[S]eeing you desire your child to live, / Thanks, but you work against your own desire; […]
* To put a request to (someone); to entreat.
** 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:And when they founde no cause of deeth in hym, yet desired they Pilate to kyll him.
** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 15:Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
* To want emotionally or sexually.
    She has desired him since they first met.
* To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 4:28:Then shee said, Did I desire a sonne of my Lord ? did I not say, Doe not deceiue me?
** c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:Desire him to go in; trouble him no more.
* To require; to demand; to claim.
** c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses:A doleful case desires a doleful song.
* To miss; to regret.
** 1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC:She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.

#### Conjugation

| infinitive | (to) desire | (to) desire |
| | present tense | past tense |
| 1st-person singular | desire | desired |
| 2nd-person singular | desire, desirest$^†$ | desired, desiredst$^†$ |
| 3rd-person singular | desires, desireth$^†$ | desired |
| plural | desire | desired |
| subjunctive | desire | desired |
| imperative | desire | — |
| participles | desiring | desired |
$^†$Archaic or obsolete.

#### Derived terms

* desired effect
* desiring-production
* desirive
* leave a lot to be desired
* leave much to be desired
* leave something to be desired

#### Related terms

* desideratum
* desirability
* desirable
* desirableness
* sidereal
* undesirability
* undesirableness

#### Translations
### Noun

desire (usually uncountable, plural desires)
* (uncountable) The feeling of desiring; an eager longing for something.
    Too much desire can seriously affect one’s judgement.
** 1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread , chapter 7:He stood...filled with the desire that his son should be like him, and should have sons like him, to people the earth. It is the strongest desire that can come to a man - if it comes to him at all - stronger even than love or the desire for personal immortality.
* (countable) Someone or something wished for.
    It is my desire to speak with you.
    You’re my heart’s desire.
** 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].
* (uncountable) Strong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.
    His desire for her kept him awake at night.
* (uncountable) Motivation. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

#### Synonyms

* (one or thing wished for): wanna, want-to; See also Thesaurus:desire
* (motivation): wanna, want-to

#### Derived terms

* alphabet of desire
* baptism of desire
* counterdesire
* desirably
* desireful
* desireless
* desire line
* desirement
* desire path
* heart's desire
* misdesire
* nondesire
* to a desire
* undesire

#### Related terms

* desirable
* desiring-production
* desirous

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### See also

* velleity

### Further reading

* “desire”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* “desire”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Seider, desier, eiders, eresid, redies, reside

## Italian
### Alternative forms

* desiro
* disire, disiro

### Etymology

Borrowed from Old Occitan dezire.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /deˈzi.re/
* Rhymes: -ire
* Hyphenation: de‧sì‧re

### Noun

desire m (plural desiri)
* (poetic, archaic) desire
    Synonym: desiderio

#### Related terms

* desio
* desirare

### Further reading

* desire in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

### Anagrams

* derise, resedi, risedé, sederi

## Middle English
### Noun

desire
* desire
** 1470–1483 (date produced), Thom̃s Malleorre [i.e., Thomas Malory], “[The Tale of King Arthur]”, in Le Morte Darthur (British Library Additional Manuscript 59678), [England: s.n.], folio 35, recto, lines 27–29:and ſo Merlyon wente forthe vnto kyng lodegean of Camylerde and tolde hym of the deſire of the kyng that þ$^t$ he wolde haue vnto his wyff Gwenyu[er] his douȝt[er](please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Descendants

* English: desire

## Romanian
### Etymology

From desi +‎ -re.

### Noun

desire f (plural desiri)
* thickening

#### Declension
### References

* desire in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN