Meaning
Extremely envious or jealous of someone else, often visibly or intensely so.
It’s typically used lightly, sometimes even playfully, about wanting something someone else has, rather than describing deep or malicious resentment.
Origin
The association between the color green and jealousy predates Shakespeare and reflects a Renaissance-era convention of matching colors to emotions, but Shakespeare’s writing fixed the image permanently in English. In “The Merchant of Venice” (c. 1596-97), Portia refers directly to “green-eyed jealousy,” and a few years later, in “Othello” (Act 3, Scene 3, c. 1603), Iago warns Othello: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” One theory for the green association ties it to the pale, sickly, greenish skin tone historically associated with illness and bile in old humoral medicine, linking envy to a kind of psychological sickness — though this connection, unlike Shakespeare’s specific wording, is inference rather than a documented explanation from the period itself.
Examples
She was green with envy when she saw his new car.
He turned green with envy over his friend’s promotion.
My sister was green with envy about our trip to Italy.
A: “Did you see her new apartment?” B: “Yes, I was green with envy.”
Frequently asked questions
What does 'Green with envy' mean?
Extremely envious or jealous of someone else, often visibly or intensely so.
It’s typically used lightly, sometimes even playfully, about wanting something someone else has, rather than describing deep or malicious resentment.