• LIK-uh-rish • adjective
1 : greedy, desirous 2 : lecherous
[Ro] lacom, pofticios
In Anglo-French, the verb lecher has two meanings, to lick and to live in debauchery. From that verb came the English adjective lickerous in the 14th century. By the mid-17th century lickerous had fallen into disuse, leaving us with the variant lickerish. Lickerish was originally cooked up as word to describe both a person who is fond of good food and the tempting food itself. The lexical temptation to extend these appetitive meanings of lickerish was very soon satisfied, and the word became a synonym of greedy and desirous. Its use was then extended to describe people and things having or suggesting lustful desires, a use in line with the to live in debauchery meaning of its French ancestor.
