hungry

English

Etymology

From Middle English hungry, from Old English hungriġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hungrug, from Proto-Germanic *hungrugaz (“hungry”); equivalent to hunger +‎ -y. Cognate with West Frisian hongerich (“hungry”), Dutch hongerig (“hungry”), German hungrig (“hungry”), Swedish hungrig (“hungry”), Icelandic hungraður (“hungry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋɡɹi
• Homophone: Hungary (in some accents)

Adjective

hungry (comparative hungrier, superlative hungriest)

1. Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food.

   Synonyms: famished, peckish, starving

   My kids go to bed hungry every night because I haven’t got much money for food.

   I woke up very hungry and made some toast.

2. Causing hunger.

   All this gardening is hungry work.

3. (figuratively) Eager, having an avid desire (‘appetite’) for something.

   young and hungry

   the students are hungry to learn

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

   • 1850, [Charles Kingsley], chapter V, in Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet. , volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, , →OCLC, page 5:

     They rowed her in across the rolling foam, / The cruel, crawling foam, / The cruel, hungry foam, / To her grave beside the sea:

   • 2022 November 23, Hadley Freeman, “Like a cinema virgin: how Madonna went stratospheric making Desperately Seeking Susan”, in The Guardian‎:

     It’s an astonishing roll call of future talent from when they were still young and hungry in Manhattan.

4. Not rich or fertile; poor; barren; starved.

   a hungry soil

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     […] 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

See also

• thirsty
• I am hungry

Middle English

Alternative forms

• (Early ME) hungrig, hunngriȝ, houngrie
• hungrie, hungri, hungre, hungery, hongry, hungury, hungorie, hungrye

Etymology

From Old English hungriġ, from Proto-Germanic *hungragaz; equivalent to hunger +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhunɡriː/,

Adjective

hungry

1. Hungry or starving; afflicted by hunger or starvation.
2. Voracious; having a great desire or compulsion to eat.
3. Haggard, scrawny; shriveled due to hunger or starvation.
4. (rare) Due to hunger; because of one's appetite.
5. (rare) Desirous; wanting something to a great degree.
6. (rare) Causing or producing hunger.
7. (rare) Of earth; not productive.

Descendants

• English: hungry
• Scots: hungry
• Yola: hungree

References

• “hungrī(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.

Noun

hungry

1. 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.