cacoëthes
or cac·o·e·thes
[kak-oh-ee-theez]
- an irresistible urge; mania.
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Origin of cacoëthes
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cacoethes
Historical Examples
I do not believe that there are any cases of the cacoethes subscribendi.
Erasmus shared with most scholars of the Renaissance the cacoethes scribendi.
Desiderius Erasmus of RotterdamEphraim Emerton
As cool as you like old Peter replied, 'Cacoethes loquendi.'
Combed OutFritz August Voigt
This cacoethes scribendi is the pest of every local curiosity or public watering-place.
Among the rest she was seized with what we men call a cacoethes of the needle: "a raging desire" for work.
White LiesCharles Reade
cacoethes
- an uncontrollable urge or desire, esp for something harmful; maniaa cacoethes for smoking
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin cacoēthes malignant disease, from Greek kakoēthēs of an evil disposition, from kakos caco- + ēthos character
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for cacoethes
n.
"itch for doing something," 1560s, from Latinized form of Greek kakoethes "ill-habit, wickedness, itch for doing (something)," from kakos "bad" (see caco-) + ethe- "disposition, character" (see ethos). Most famously, in Juvenal's insanabile scribendi cacoethes "incurable passion for writing."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper