hungry
English
Etymology
From Middle English hungry, from Old English hungriġ, hungreġ (“hungry, famishing; meager”), from Proto-Germanic *hungragaz (“hungry”); equivalent to hunger + -y. Cognate with Dutch hongerig (“hungry”), German hungrig (“hungry”), Swedish hungrig (“hungry”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (file) - Homophone: Hungary (in some accents)
Adjective
hungry (comparative hungrier, superlative hungriest)
- Affected by hunger; desiring of food; having a physical need for food.
- My kids go to bed hungry every night because I haven't got any money.
- (figuratively) Eager, having an avid desire (‘appetite’) for something.
- 1850, Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke, London: Chapman & Hall, Volume 2, Chapter 5, p. 56,
- They rowed her in across the rolling foam,
- The cruel, crawling foam,
- The cruel, hungry foam,
- To her grave beside the sea:
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2,
- Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
- 1850, Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke, London: Chapman & Hall, Volume 2, Chapter 5, p. 56,
- Not rich or fertile; poor; barren; starved.
- a hungry soil
- c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act V, Scene 3,
- […] What is this?
- Your knees to me? to your corrected son?
- Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach
- Fillip the stars […]
Derived terms
Translations
affected by hunger; desirous of food
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eager, having a desire for something
Not rich or fertile
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English hungriġ, from Proto-Germanic *hungragaz; equivalent to hunger + -y.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhunɡriː/, [ˈhuŋɡriː]
Adjective
hungry
- Hungry or starving; afflicted by hunger or starvation.
- Voracious; having a great desire or compulsion to eat.
- Haggard, scrawny; shriveled due to hunger or starvation.
- (rare) Due to hunger; because of one's appetite.
- (rare) Desirous; wanting something to a great degree.
- (rare) Causing or producing hunger.
- (rare) Of earth; not productive.
References
- “hungrī(e (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.
Noun
hungry
- Those who are hungry, starving, or of little means.
References
- “hungrī(e (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.
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