Dear Geist,

What is the difference, if any, between jealousy and envy? Is this one of those sets of words that used to be separate, but then got slippery and went all over the place?

—Hannah, Cyberspace

Dear Hannah,

In a word, yes. The terms had different meanings for a long time. Jealousy, which comes from the French, was used in situations where there was emotional rivalry. Envy, from the Latin, was suffused with malice and enmity, and was used to describe a broader experience, general resentment of someone who seemed more fortunate. But by 2001, the definitions of the two words were interchangeable in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary; and in Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) they were headed for interchangeability. Language! You just can't keep it still.

—The Editors