Online Etymology Dictionary

delight (n.): c. 1200, delit, from Old French delit "pleasure, delight, sexual desire," from delitier "please greatly, charm," from Latin delectare "to allure, delight, charm, please," frequentative of delicere "entice" (see delicious). Spelled delite until 16c. when it changed under influence of light, flight, etc.
malice (n.): c. 1300, "desire to hurt another," from Old French malice "ill will, spite, sinfulness, wickedness" (12c.), from Latin malitia "badness, ill will, spite," from malus "bad" (see mal-). In legal use, "wrongful intent generally" (1540s).
want (v.): c. 1200, "to be lacking," from Old Norse vanta "to lack, want," earlier *wanaton, from Proto-Germanic *wanen, from PIE *we-no-, from root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out" (see vain). The meaning "desire, wish for, feel the need of" is recorded by 1706.
yen (n.2): "sharp desire, hunger," 1906, earlier yen-yen (1900), yin (1876) "intense craving for opium," from Chinese (Cantonese) yan "craving," or from a Beijing dialect word for "smoke." Reinforced in English by influence of yearn.
opine (v.): "express an opinion," mid-15c., from Middle French opiner (15c.) and directly from Latin opinari "have an opinion, be of opinion, suppose, conjecture, think, judge," perhaps related to optare "to desire, choose" (see option). Related: Opined; opining.
device (n.): late 13c., from Old French devis "division, separation, disposition, wish, desire; coat of arms, emblem; last will," from deviser "to divide, distribute" (see devise). Sense of "method by which something is divided" arose in French and led to modern meaning.
agog (adj., adv.): "in a state of desire; in a state of imagination; heated with the notion of some enjoyment; longing" [Johnson], c. 1400, perhaps from Old French en gogues "in jest, good humor, joyfulness," from gogue "fun," which is of unknown origin.
itch (n.): "irritating tingling sensation in the skin," also "skin inflammation caused by a burrowing mite," Old English gicce, from giccan (v.) "to itch" (see itch (v.)). Sense of "restless desire" is first attested 1530s; itching in this sense is from mid-14c.
long (v.): Old English langian "to yearn after, grieve for," literally "to grow long, lengthen," from Proto-Germanic *langojanan (see long (adj.)). Cognate with Old Norse langa, Old Saxon langon, Middle Dutch langhen, Old High German langen "to long," German verlangen "to desire." Related: Longed; longing.
roach (n.1): shortened form of cockroach, 1837, on mistaken notion that it was a compound. In contemporary writing said to be from a polite desire to avoid the sexual connotation in the first syllable. Meaning "butt of a marijuana cigarette" is first recorded 1938, perhaps from resemblance to the insect, but perhaps a different word entirely.
transsexualism (n.): "intense desire to change one's sexual status, including the anatomical structure," 1953, coined by U.S. physician Harry Benjamin (1885-1986) from trans- + sexual. Transsexuality is recorded from 1941, but was used at first to mean "homosexuality" or "bisexuality." In the current sense from 1955.
concupiscence (n.): mid-14c., from Latin concupiscentia "eager desire," from concupiscens, present participle of concupiscere, inceptive of concupere "to be very desirous of," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + cupere "to long for" (see cupidity). Used in Vulgate to translate Greek epithymia.
Wend (n.): member of a Slavic people of eastern Germany, 1610s (implied in Wendish), from German Wende, from Old High German Winida, related to Old English Winedas "Wends," of uncertain origin. Perhaps ultimately from Celtic *vindo- "white," or from PIE *wen-eto- "beloved," from *wen- (1) "to desire." Related: Wendish.
sultry (adj.): 1590s, "oppressively hot, close and moist" (of weather), ultimately from swelter + alteration of -y (2), either as a contraction of sweltry or from obsolete verb sulter "to swelter" (1580s), alteration of swelter. Figurative sense of "hot with lust" is attested from 1704; of women, "lascivious, sensual, arousing desire" it is recorded from 1940. Related: Sultriness.
wasteland (n.): 1825 as one word, from waste (adj.) + land (n.). Figurative sense is attested from 1868. Eliot's poem is from 1922.
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
desperate (adj.): early 15c., "despairing, hopeless," from Latin desperatus "given up, despaired of," past participle of desperare (see despair (v.)). Sense of "driven to recklessness" is from late 15c.; weakened sense of "having a great desire for" is from 1950s. Related: Desperately.
provocative (adj.): mid-15c., "eliciting," from Middle French provocatif (15c.) and directly from Late Latin provocativus "calling forth," from provocat-, past participle stem of Latin provocare (see provoke). Specifically of sexual desire from 1620s. Related: Provocatively; provocativeness. The earliest appearance of the word in English is as a noun meaning "an aphrodisiac" (early 15c.).
expectant (adj.): late 14c., from Old French expectant or directly from Latin expectantem/exspectantem (nominative expectans/exspectans), present participle of expectare/exspectare "await, desire, hope" (see expect). Meaning "pregnant" is by 1861. Related: Expectantly. As a noun, "one who waits in expectation," from 1620s.
itch (v.): Middle English icchen, from Old English giccan "to itch," from West Germanic *jukkjan (source also of Middle Dutch jöken "to itch," Old High German jucchen, German jucken). Figurative sense of "feel a provoking desire to do or get something" is from early 13c. Related: Itched; itching.
continence (n.): late 14c., "self-restraint," from Old French continence (14c.), from Latin continentia "a holding back, repression," from continent-, present participle stem of continere (see continent). Especially of sexual desire from late 14c.; of the body's eliminatory functions, from 1915. Related: Continency.
lusty (adj.): early 13c., "joyful, merry," from lust + -y (2). It largely has escaped the Christianization and denigration of its root word. The sense of "full of healthy vigor" is from late 14c.; that of "full of desire" is attested from c. 1400. Related: Lustily; lustiness.
serviceable (adj.): "ready to do service," early 14c., from Old French servicable, from servise (see service (n.1)). Related: Serviceability.
Edgar: I know thee well: a serviceable villain,
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress
As badness would desire.
["King Lear," IV.vi.]
chrestomathy (n.): "collection of literary passages," 1774, from French chrestomathie, from Latinized form of Greek khrestomatheia "desire of learning; book containing selected passages," lit. "useful learning," from khrestos "useful" (verbal adjective of khresthai "to make use of;" see hortatory) + manthanein "to learn" (see mathematic). Related: Chrestomathic.
lech (n.2): "yen, strong desire" (especially sexual and sometimes implying perversion), 1796, variant of letch, but according to OED "now regarded as a back-formation" from lecher. Meaning "a lecher" is by 1943. As a verb by 1911. Related: Leched; leching.
Eros (n.): god of love, late 14c., from Greek eros (plural erotes), "god or personification of love," literally "love," from eran "to love," erasthai "to love, desire," which is of uncertain origin.

Freudian sense of "urge to self-preservation and sexual pleasure" is from 1922. Ancient Greek distinguished four ways of love: erao "to be in love with, to desire passionately or sexually;" phileo "have affection for;" agapao "have regard for, be contented with;" and stergo, used especially of the love of parents and children or a ruler and his subjects.
Venus: late Old English, from Latin Venus (plural veneres), in ancient Roman mythology, the goddess of beauty and love, especially sensual love, from venus "love, sexual desire; loveliness, beauty, charm; a beloved object," from PIE root *wen- (1) "to strive after, wish, desire."

This root is the source of Sanskrit veti "follows after," vanas- "desire," vanati "desires, loves, wins;" Avestan vanaiti "he wishes, is victorious;" Latin venerari "to worship;" Old English wynn "joy," wunian "to dwell," wenian "to accustom, train, wean," wyscan "to wish."

Applied by the Romans to Greek Aphrodite, Egyptian Hathor, etc. Applied in English to any beautiful, attractive woman by 1570s. As the name of the most brilliant planet from late 13c., from this sense in Latin (Old English called it morgensteorra and æfensteorra). The venus fly-trap (Dionæa muscipula) was discovered 1760 by Gov. Arthur Dobbs in North Carolina and description sent to Collinson in England. The Central Atlantic Coast Algonquian name for the plant, /titipiwitshik/, yielded regional American English tippity wichity.
facetious (adj.): 1590s, from French facétieux (16c.), from facétie "a joke" (15c.), from Latin facetiae "jests, witticisms" (singular facetia), from facetus "witty, elegant, fine, courteous," which is of unknown origin, perhaps related to facis "torch."

Formerly often in a good sense, "witty, amusing," but later implying a desire to be amusing that is often intrusive or ill-timed. Related: Facetiously; facetiousness. "Facetiæ in booksellers' catalogues, is, like curious, a euphemism for erotica." [Fowler]
fancy (n.): mid-15c., fantsy "inclination, liking," contraction of fantasy. It took the older and longer word's sense of "inclination, whim, desire." Meaning "the productive imagination" is from 1580s. That of "a fanciful image or conception" is from 1660s. Meaning "fans of an amusement or sport, collectively" is attested by 1735, especially (though not originally) of the prize ring. The adjective is recorded from 1751 in the sense "fine, elegant, ornamental" (opposed to plain); later as "involving fancy, of a fanciful nature" (1800). Fancy man attested by 1811.
lap (v.2): early 14c., "to surround (something with something else)," from lap (n.1). Figurative use, "to envelop (in love, sin, desire, etc.)" is from mid-14c. Meaning "lay one part over another, lay in such a way as to cover part of something underneath" is from c. 1600. The sense of "to get a lap ahead (of a competitor) on a track" is from 1847, on notion of "overlapping" (see lap (n.2)). Related: Lapped; lapping.
Oedipal (adj.): 1939, "of or pertaining to desire felt for opposite-sex parent," from Oedipus complex (1910), coined by Freud from Sophocles' play "Oedipus Tyrannus," in which the title character, the Theban hero, answers the Sphinx's riddle and unknowingly kills his father and marries his own mother; from Greek Oedipus. The name was used figuratively in English from 1550s for "one who is clever at guessing riddles," which had adjectival form Oedipean (1620s).
venery (n.1): "pursuit of sexual pleasure," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin veneria "sexual intercourse," from Latin venus (genitive veneris) "sexual love, sexual desire" (see Venus). In earlier use it may have been felt as a play on now obsolete homonym venery (n.2) "practice or sport of hunting, the chase." Related: Venereous.
venison (n.): c. 1300, from Old French venesoun "meat of large game," especially deer or boar, also "a hunt," from Latin venationem (nominative venatio) "a hunt, hunting, the chase," also "game as the product of the hunt," from venatus, past participle of venari "to hunt, pursue," probably from PIE *wen-a-, from root *wen- (1) "to strive for, desire" (see Venus).
indigence (n.): late 14c., from Old French indigence "indigence, need, privation" (13c.), from Latin indigentia "need, want; insatiable desire," from indigentem (nominative indigens) "in want of, needing," present participle of indigere "to need, stand in need of," from indu "in, within" (see indigenous) + egere "be in need, want," from PIE *eg- "to lack" (source also of Old Norse ekla "want, lack," Old High German eccherode "thin, weak").
ween (v.): "be of the opinion, have the notion" (archaic), Old English wenan "to fancy, imagine, believe; expect, hope," from Proto-Germanic *wenjan "to hope" (source also of Old Saxon wanian, Old Norse væna, Old Frisian wena, Old High German wanen, German wähnen, Gothic wenjan "to expect, suppose, think"), from *woeniz "expectation," from PIE root *wen- (1) "to wish, desire, strive for" (see Venus). Archaic since 17c.
zeal (n.): "passionate ardor in pursuit of an objective or course of action," late 14c., from Old French zel (Modern French zèle) and directly from Late Latin zelus "zeal, emulation" (source also of Italian zelo, Spanish celo), a Church word, from Greek zelos "ardor, eager rivalry, emulation," "a noble passion" [Liddell & Scott], but also "jealousy;" prom PIE *ya- "to seek, request, desire." From mid-15c. as "devotion."
adoption (n.): mid-14c., from Old French adopcion or directly from Latin adoptionem (nominative adoptio), noun of action from past participle stem of adoptare "chose for oneself, take by choice, select, adopt," especially "to take into a family, adopt as a child," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + optare "choose, wish, desire" (see option (n.)).
affect (v.2): "to make a pretense of," 1660s, earlier "to assume the character of (someone)," 1590s; originally in English "to aim at, aspire to, desire" (early 15c.), from Middle French affecter (15c.), from Latin affectare "to strive after, aim at," frequentative of afficere (past participle affectus) "to do something to, act on" (see affect (n.)). Related: Affected; affecting.
opinion (n.): c. 1300, from Old French opinion "opinion, view, judgements founded upon probabilities" (12c.), from Latin opinionem (nominative opinio) "opinion, conjecture, fancy, belief, what one thinks; appreciation, esteem," from stem of opinari "think, judge, suppose, opine," from PIE *op- (2) "to choose" (see option).
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. [Milton, "Areopagitica"]
option (n.): c. 1600, "action of choosing," from French option (Old French opcion), from Latin optionem (nominative optio) "choice, free choice, liberty to choose," from root of optare "to desire, choose," from PIE root *op- (2) "to choose, prefer." Meaning "thing that may be chosen" is attested from 1885. Commercial transaction sense first recorded 1755 (the verb in this sense is from 1934). As a North American football play, it is recorded from 1954.
paramour (n.): c. 1300, noun use of adverbial phrase par amour (c. 1300) "passionately, with strong love or desire," from Anglo-French and Old French par amour, from accusative of amor "love," from amare "to love" (see Amy). Originally a term for Christ (by women) or the Virgin Mary (by men), it came to mean "darling, sweetheart" (mid-14c.) and "mistress, concubine, clandestine lover" (late 14c.).
violation (n.): c. 1400, from Old French violacion and directly from Latin violationem (nominative violatio) "an injury, irreverence, profanation," from past participle stem of violare "to treat with violence, outrage, dishonor," perhaps an irregular derivative of vis "strength, force, power, energy," from PIE root *weie- "to go after, pursue with vigor or desire" (see gain (v.)).
will (n.): Old English will, willa "mind, determination, purpose; desire, wish, request; joy, delight," from Proto-Germanic *wiljon- (source also of Old Saxon willio, Old Norse vili, Old Frisian willa, Dutch wil, Old High German willio, German Wille, Gothic wilja "will"), related to *willan "to wish" (see will (v.1)). The meaning "written document expressing a person's wishes about disposition of property after death" is first recorded late 14c.
nymphomania (n.): 1775, in English translation of "Nymphomania, or a Dissertation Concerning the Furor Uterinus," by French doctor M.D.T. Bienville, coined from Greek nymphe "bride" (see nymph) + mania "madness" (see mania). Perhaps influenced by earlier French nymphomanie. Defined as "a female disease characterized by morbid and uncontrollable sexual desire." Compare also nympholepsy.
thirst (n.): Old English þurst, from Proto-Germanic *thurstu- (source also of Old Saxon thurst, Frisian torst, Dutch dorst, Old High German and German durst), from Proto-Germanic verbal stem *thurs- (source also of Gothic thaursjan, Old English thyrre), from PIE root *ters- "dry" (see terrain). Figurative sense of "vehement desire" is attested from c. 1200.
pleasure (n.): late 14c., "condition of enjoyment," from Old French plesir, also plaisir "enjoyment, delight, desire, will" (12c.), from noun use of infinitive plaisir (v.) "to please," from Latin placere "to please, give pleasure, be approved" (see please (v.)). Ending altered in English 14c. by influence of words in -ure (measure, etc.). Meaning "sensual enjoyment as the chief object of life" is attested from 1520s.
aspire (v.): "strive for," c. 1400, from Old French aspirer "aspire to; inspire; breathe, breathe on" (12c.), from Latin aspirare "to breathe upon, blow upon, to breathe," also, in transferred senses, "to be favorable to, assist; to climb up to, to endeavor to obtain, to reach to, to seek to reach; infuse," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + spirare "to breathe" (see spirit (n.)). The notion is of "panting with desire," or perhaps of rising smoke. Related: Aspired; aspiring.
plenty (n.): mid-13c., "as much as one could desire," from Old French plentee, earlier plentet "abundance, profusion" (12c., Modern French dialectal plenté), from Latin plenitatem (nominative plenitas) "fullness," from plenus "complete, full" (see plenary). Meaning "condition of general abundance" is from late 14c. The colloquial adverb meaning "very much" is first attested 1842. Middle English had parallel formation plenteth, from the older Old French form of the word.
ardor (n.): early 15c., "heat of passion or desire," from Old French ardure "heat, glow; passion" (12c.), from Latin ardorem (nominative ardor) "a flame, fire, burning, heat;" also of feelings, etc., "eagerness, zeal," from ardere "to burn" (see ardent). In Middle English, used of base passions; since Milton's time, of noble ones.
vanadium (n.): rare metallic element, 1833, named 1830 by Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefström (1787-1845), from Old Norse Vanadis, one of the names of the Norse beauty goddess Freyja (perhaps from PIE *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for," which would connect it to Venus); the metal perhaps so called for of its colorful compounds (an earlier name for it was erythronium, for the redness of its salts when heated). With metallic element ending -ium. Related: Vanadous; vanadious.
aspiration (n.1): 1530s, "action of breathing into," from Latin aspirationem (nominative aspiratio) "a breathing on, a blowing upon; rough breathing; influence," noun of action from past participle stem of aspirare (see aspire). Meaning "steadfast longing for a higher goal, earnest desire for something above one" is recorded from c. 1600 (sometimes collectively, as aspirations).