See also: Famine

English edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Middle French famine, itself from the root of Latin fames. Cognate with Spanish hambruna (famine).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈfæmɪn/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -æmɪn
  • Hyphenation: fam‧ine

Noun edit

 
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famine (countable and uncountable, plural famines)

  1. (uncountable) Extreme shortage of food in a region.
    • 1831 July 15, “Of the Blood”, in Western Journal of Health[1], volume 4, number 1, L. B. Lincoln, page 38:
      It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils.
    • 1971, Central Institute of Research & Training in Public Cooperation:
      Dr. Bhatia pointed out that famine had occurred in all ages and in all societies where means of communication and transport were not developed.
  2. (countable) A period of extreme shortage of food in a region.
    • 1986, United States Congress, House Select Committee on Hunger, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Famine and Recovery in Africa
      The root causes of the current famine are known: poverty, low health standards....
  3. (dated) Starvation or malnutrition.
    • 1871 (orig. 426), Augustine, The City of God, transl. Marcus Dods:
      His own flesh, however, which he lost by famine, shall be restored to him by Him who can recover even what has evaporated.
  4. Severe shortage or lack of something.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Anagrams edit

French edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Middle French and Old French famine, formed from the root of Latin famēs (hunger) with the suffix -ine.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

famine f (plural famines)

  1. famine

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Old French edit

Etymology edit

Formed from the root of Latin famēs (hunger), with the suffix -ine.

Noun edit

famine oblique singularf (oblique plural famines, nominative singular famine, nominative plural famines)

  1. famine

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

  • Middle French: famine