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Was ist der Unterschied zwischen Eifersucht und Neid? Mein Wörterbuch übersetzt beide Wörter nach jealousy.

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"Neid" can also be translated as "envy". – RoToRa May 24 '11 at 22:04

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Eifersucht has a strongly relational connotation, while Neid has a very material and status connotation.

So, the nuance is, that if you are jealous that your parents like your little brother more than you, then you are eifersüchtig, but if you are jealous that they give him the bigger piece of the cake then you are neidisch or, less common, neidig.

This is especially true of sexual jealousy which is always Eifersucht.

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It's neidisch, not neidig. – fzwo May 25 '11 at 13:44
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Where you live, this may be so. – Phira May 25 '11 at 15:28
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This has nothing to do with where I live. Neidisch is ordinary high german, and I think that's what we should strive for here, if not explicitly stating otherwise. The Duden says (landschaftlich) neidig, so this is obviously not high german, which should probably be clarified. – fzwo May 25 '11 at 15:32
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You cannot reduce the German language to a dictionary of one country. – Phira May 25 '11 at 15:35
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@thei: OK, I almost guessed so since ammoQ also wrote "neidig". In Germany, "neidig" is not "less common" but "plain wrong". Of course I agree with you that "you cannot reduce the German language ...", but instead of "less common" you might want to be more explicit and write "in Austria" or something like that. – Hendrik Vogt Jun 6 '11 at 16:51
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up vote 18 down vote

Neid ist envy und Eifersucht ist jealousy. (Diese Wörter werden in der englischen Laiensprache meistens auswechselbar angewendet. Die beschreiben aber tatsächlich - genau wie im Deutschen - underschiedene Emotionen.)

Laut Wikipedia heißt es, "dass ein eifersüchtiger Mensch Angst hat, zu verlieren, was (oder wen) er besitzt und wirklich oder vermeintlich braucht, und ein neidischer Mensch das haben will, was andere besitzen".

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So wird es auch in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur definiert. Auf die hübsche Frau meines Nachbarn kann ich nur neidig sein, aber wenn mein Nachbar mit meiner Frau flirtet, werde ich eifersüchtig. – ammoQ Jun 2 '11 at 18:28

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