1. An overwhelming desire to have more of something; such as, a greater amount of money than is actually needed: Theodore's boss was a ruthless businessman who seemed to be motivated by an inordinate greed for wealth regardless of how it could be accomplished.
2. A craving or acquisitiveness that has been taken to the extreme; especially, regarding material wealth: Goldie made no effort to conceal her greeds for money and power.
3. Etymology: from Old English grædig, "voracious"; also, "covetous"; from Proto-Germanic grædagaz (hypothetical prehistoric ancestor of all Germanic languages, including English).

In Greek, the word was philargyros; literally, "money-loving".

Greed is from a 1609 back-formation. A German word for it is habsüchtig, from haben, "to have" + sucht, "sickness, disease"; with the sense of tending toward "a passion for".