hunger

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋɡə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋɡɚ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋɡə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: hun‧ger

Etymology 1

From Middle English hunger, from Old English hungor (“hunger, desire; famine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hungruz, *hunhruz (“hunger”), from Proto-Indo-European *kenk- (“to burn, smart, desire, hunger, thirst”).

Cognate with West Frisian honger, hûnger (“hunger”), Dutch honger (“hunger”), German Low German Hunger (“hunger”), German Hunger (“hunger”), Swedish hunger (“hunger”), Icelandic hungur (“hunger”).

Noun

hunger (countable and uncountable, plural hungers)

1. A need or compelling desire for food.
2. (by extension) Any strong desire.

   I have a hunger to win.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1:

     O sacred hunger of ambitious minds!

   • 2003, “What Up Gangsta”, in Curtis Jackson, Rob Tewlow (lyrics), Reef Tewlow (music), Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent, New York City: Shady Records:

     When gangsters bump my shit, can they feel my hunger?

Usage notes

The phrase be hungry is more common than have hunger to express a need for food.

Antonyms

• satiety
• satiation

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• thirst

Etymology 2

From Middle English hungren, from Old English hyngran, hyngrian, ġehyngrian (“to be hungry”), from Proto-West Germanic *hungrijan, from Proto-Germanic *hungrijaną.

Verb

hunger (third-person singular simple present hungers, present participle hungering, simple past and past participle hungered)

1. (intransitive) To be in need of food.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Romans 12:20:

     Therefore if thine enemie hunger, feed him: if he thirst, giue him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heape coales of fire on his head.

2. (figuratively, intransitive, usually with 'for' or 'after') To have a desire (for); to long; to yearn.

   I hungered for your love.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Matthew 5:6:

     Blessed are they which doe hunger and thirst after righteousnesse: for they shall be filled.

   • 1993, The The, Love Is Stronger Than Death:

     In our lives we hunger for those we cannot touch.

3. (archaic, transitive) To make hungry; to famish.

Derived terms

• ahungered/anhungered
• forhungered

Translations

References

• “hunger”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• rehung

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse hungr

Noun

hunger

1. (uncommon) hunger

Declension

Synonyms

• sult

Derived terms

• hungersnød

German

Verb

hunger

1. inflection of hungern:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative

Middle English

Alternative forms

• (Early ME) hunngerr, hungor, hungær
• hunguer, honguer, honger, hungre, hongre, hungere, hongur, hounger, hounguer, hungir, hungyr, hungur

Etymology

From Old English hungor, from Proto-West Germanic *hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hungruz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhunɡər/,

Noun

hunger (uncountable)

1. Hungriness; the feeling of being hungry or requiring satiation.
2. Hunger; a great lack or death of food or nutrition.
   • p. 1154, “AD 1137”, in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS. Laud Misc. 636, continuation), Peterborough, folio 89, verso; republished at Oxford: Digital Bodleian, 2018 February 8:

     Mani þusen hi drapen mid hungær.

     Many thousands they overcame with hunger.

3. A shortage of food in a region or country; widespread hunger.
   • a. 1382, John Wycliffe, “2 Paralipomenon 6:28”, in Wycliffe's Bible:

     If hungur riſiþ in þe lond and peſtilence and ruſt and wynd diſtriynge cornes and a locuste and bꝛuke comeþ and if enemyes biſegen þe ȝatis of þe citee aftir þat þe cuntreis ben diſtried and al veniaunce and ſikenesse oppꝛeſſiþ […]

     If hunger rises in the land, and pestilence, rust, wind, destroying grain, and locusts and their young come, and if enemies besiege a city's gates after the city's surrounds are ruined, and when any destruction and disease oppresses (people)

4. Hunger as a metaphorical individual; the force of hunger.
5. (rare) Any strong drive or compulsion.

Derived terms

• hungren
• hungry
• hungrylych

Descendants

• English: hunger
• Scots: hounger, hunger

References

• “hunger, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hunhruz.

Noun

hunger m (definite singular hungeren, uncountable)

1. hunger

Synonyms

• sult

Derived terms

• hungersnød

Related terms

• hungrig

References

• “hunger” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse hungr.

Noun

hunger m (definite singular hungeren) (uncountable)

1. hunger

Synonyms

• svolt

Derived terms

• hungersnaud, hungersnød

Related terms

• hungrig

References

• “hunger” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hunhruz.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

hunger c (uncountable)

1. hunger

Declension

Derived terms

• lufthunger

See also

• hungrig (“hungry”)
• hungra (“to hunger”)