Merriam-webster.com defines greed as 'a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as moeny) than is needed'. But does this definition help we understand the meaning of the word? – I would argue that it doesn’t, because this definition ends with the wording ‘…that is needed’. How do you defined what is needed? This wording implies that there is some somewhat universal measurement for what an individual would need. Because if we should be able to determine if a person is greedy or not it would require that we nonetheless would be able to objectively say what the individual would need, which in practices would be impossible.

So can we just ignore the impractical part of the definition? Well if we remove the ‘… that is needed’ then all that we are left with would be the desire for something should be considered greedy. If we do this it would dominate to that greed as a word would be meaningless since every single individual constantly has desires and there for should be considered greedy all the time. So what we need is a new definition of what we consider to be greedy behavior. Therefore lets go back to the beginning and contemplate the origin of the word.

Greed comes form the Greek word philargyros that translates into “money-loving.” If we look at the German meaning of the word it then translates into habsüchtig, meaning to want something and combined with sickness/disease. So if we look at the origin of the word greed isn’t just the desire for something but when that desire has turned into a sickness. Which brings me to my point regarding greed. An individual should only be considered to be greedy when the desire for something has turned into a sickness or otherwise unhealthy for the individual.

But why don't we end up with the same dilemma regarding the sickness requirement as we have in the ‘more than is needed’ requirement? I would argue that we do have a universal standard for how we can measure what we would consider to be unhealthy. If we for a moment look to morality we do have the tools to make the judgment between the good and the bad, between the healthy, and unhealthy. Therefor I propose a new definition of greed:

'A unhealthy desire for more of something (as money) that is acquired though immoral means'