These are a couple of words that I’ve seen misused on a frequent basis. People rarely use “envy” and misuse “jealous” all the time. You might’ve heard people say, “I’m so jealous of you,” or “So jelly right now.” There’s so much wrong on so many levels, but let’s quickly separate these two so you can be on your way.

Envy will usually refer to someone’s resentful or dissatisfied longing for what someone else has. This is where people mixup meanings and say “I’m jealous of their car” or “I’m jealous of their hair.” This would actually be envy. “I’m so envious of their car.” Is having a car the sign of success meaning that you’d feel jealousy? That would be a weak connection, so the correct feeling would be “envy” as you covet their possession. Envy can also be possessive and change its meaning when you have “the envy of,” which would mean that no one is actively envious of you, but your statement could cause envy, “Our empire shall be the envy of the world!” Or, something like that.

Jealously most often refers to the feeling you get when you suspect or see someone wedging themselves into one of your relationships, e.g., someone flirting with your significant other. Jealousy can also be applied to what you could feel towards someone else’s success, but it’s usually involved in the feeling of resentful suspicion. So, this may be like, “Why are they so successful? I’m jealous.” Jealousy also has two older meanings — either feeling fiercely protective over one’s possession(s), or it could mean God demanding faithfulness and exclusive worship, which is obviously mostly only used with Biblical reference.

And that’s my English tip for you!