en·vy/ˈenvē/

Noun:	A feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.
Verb:	Desire to have a quality, possession, or other attribute belonging to (someone else): "he envied tall people"; "I envy Jane her happiness".
Synonyms:	noun.  jealousy - jaundice - heartburning - grudge verb.  begrudge - grudge - be jealous - be envious     Psychologist George Foster wrote, "Envy is, I believe, a pan-human phenomenon, abundantly present in every society, and present to a greater or lesser extent in every human being." Envy is certainly everywhere, and every one of us has the potential to feel envious at some point or other in our lives.  But what is envy? Most social scientists agree that envy is a resentful emotion, typically triggered by a possession or attribute one person has and another person wants but does not have.  The psychological definition of envy differs only slightly from the definition for jealousy.  The biggest difference being that envy is more aggressive in nature than jealousy, and that jealousy is believed to stem from a fear of loss rather than a desire to have something. Envy, as defined above, is a feeling of deep seated resentment toward another person triggered by a possession or attribute the envied has and the envier wants.  Some people have real problems with envy.   Envious people will rarely come right out and admit to being envious.  They do, however, engage in some telling activities: 1.  Envious people often engage in gossip, talking about the person they envy often even with individuals who do not actually  know the person they envy or who do not know that person well. 2.  Envious people often make passive aggressive statements to or about the person they envy. 3. Envious people often find that their thoughts center around the object of their envy.  Envious people compare themselves to those they envy on a regular basis. 4. Envious people make judgmental statements about the people they envy, and often are very critical of those people.  I suspect it makes them feel better about themselves to put down the person they envy, but putting them down doesn't really solve anything. 5. Envious people may try to disparage the character of those they envy. Again, putting down the person they envy is an attempt to booster their own confidence. Envy is an interesting emotion,albeit a negative one.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I must say perhaps envy is!  In any case you can read more about the history of envy here.