lecherous [ME] Lecherous, lechery, and lecher [all ME] go back to the old French lechier (Modern French lecher) ‘to lick’, which goes back to a Frankish word that shares a root with lick (see language). The connection between lick and sexual desire is that lecherous originally referred to both sexual indulgence and gluttony. Middle English had two words that shared both meanings—lecherous, which was most often used in the sexual sense, and lickerous, which became obsolete in the 17th century, which was more often used of gluttony.