hunger

See also: Hunger

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋɡɚ/
Audio (US)
(file)
Rhymes: -ʌŋɡə(ɹ)

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English hunger, from Old English hungor ‎(“hunger, desire; famine”), from Proto-Germanic *hungruz, *hunhruz ‎(“hunger”), from Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ‎(“to burn, smart, desire, hunger, thirst”). Compare Dutch honger, German and Low German Hunger, Swedish hunger.

NounEdit

hunger ‎(countable and uncountable, plural hungers)

A need or compelling desire for food.
(by extension) Any strong desire.
I have a hunger to win.
- Spenser
  O sacred hunger of ambitious minds!

Usage notesEdit

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

AntonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

hunger is the best spice

TranslationsEdit

need for food

Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: جُوع m ‎(jūʿ)
Armenian: քաղց (hy) ‎(kʿałcʿ), սով (hy) ‎(sov)
Aromanian: foami f
Asturian: fame f
Avar: please add this translation if you can
Azeri: aclıq (az)
Bashkir: аслыҡ ‎(aslïq)
Belarusian: го́лад (be) m ‎(hólad)
Bengali: please add this translation if you can
Bulgarian: глад (bg) m ‎(glad)
Catalan: gana (ca) f, fam (ca) m
Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵍⴰⵥ ‎(laẓ)
Chechen: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Mandarin: 飢餓 (zh), 饥饿 (zh) ‎(jī'è)
Chuvash: выҫӑ ‎(vyśă), выҫлӑх ‎(vyślăh)
Czech: hlad (cs) m
Dalmatian: fum m
Danish: sult (da)
Dutch: honger (nl) m, trek (nl)
Esperanto: malsato
Faroese: hungur m, n, svongd f, svultur m
Finnish: nälkä (fi)
French: faim (fr) f
Friulian: fan f
Georgian: შიმშილი ‎(šimšili)
German: Hunger (de) m
Greek:
Daily/ordinary need of food: πείνα (pína) f

Desperate need of food: λιγούρα (liɣúra) f

Scarcity of food due to war: λιμός (limós) m

Scarcity of food due to natural disaster: σιτοδεία (sitoðía) f, ασιτία (asitía) f
Haitian Creole: grangou
Hebrew: רָעָב (he) m ‎(ra'áv)
Hindi: भूख (hi) f ‎(bhūkh)
Hungarian: éhség (hu)
Icelandic: hungur (is) n, sultur (is) m
Interlingua: fame
Irish: ocras (ga) m
Istriot: fan
Istro-Romanian: fome
Italian: fame (it) f
Japanese: 飢え ‎(うえ, ue), 空腹 (ja) ‎(くうふく, kūfuku), 飢餓 (ja) ‎(きが, kiga)
Kazakh: аштық ‎(aştıq)
Khakas: ас ‎(as)
Korean: 굶주림 ‎(gumjurim), 배고픔 (ko) ‎(baegopeum)
Kurdish:
Sorani: برسێتی (ku)
Kyrgyz: ачтык (ky) ‎(açtık)
Latgalian: olkonums, bods
Latin: fames f
Latvian: bads m

Lithuanian: alkis (lt) m
Macedonian: глад m ‎(glad)
Manx: accrys m
Marathi: भूख ‎(bhūkh)
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Navajo: dichin
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sult (no) m, hunger (no) m

Nynorsk: svolt m, hunger m
Occitan: fam (oc)
Old English: hungor m
Old High German: hungar m
Old Norse: hungr n
Old Turkic: 𐰀𐰲𐰾𐰴 ‎(āčsïq)
Ossetian: please add this translation if you can
Ottoman Turkish: آجلق ‎(aclık)
Persian: گرسنگی (fa) ‎(gorosnegi)
Polish: głód (pl) m
Portuguese: fome (pt) f
Quechua: yarqay
Rohingya: búk
Romani: bok
Romanian: foame (ro) f
Romansch: fom
Russian: го́лод (ru) m ‎(gólod)
Sanskrit: बुभुक्षा (sa) ‎(bubhuksha)
Sardinian: fàmene
Scottish Gaelic: acras m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: глад m

Roman: glad (sh) m
Sicilian: fami (scn)
Slovak: hlad (sk) m
Slovene: glad m
Southern Altai: ач ‎(ać)
Spanish: hambre (es) f
Swahili: njaa (sw), unenge (sw)
Swedish: hunger (sv)
Tajik: гуруснагӣ (tg) ‎(gurusnagī)
Tatar: ачлык (tt) ‎(açlıq)
Telugu: ఆకలి (te) ‎(ākali)
Thai: ความหิว (th) ‎(kwaam hĭw)
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: açlık (tr), aç (tr)
Turkmen: açlyk (tk), aaçlyk
Tuvan: аш ‎(aš)
Ukrainian: го́лод m ‎(hólod)
Urdu: بھوک f ‎(bhūk)
Uyghur: ئاچلىق ‎(achliq)
Uzbek: ochlik (uz)
Venetian: fan f
Vietnamese: đói (vi)
Welsh: newyn m
Yakut: аас ‎(aas)

strong desire

Arabic: رَغْبَة f ‎(raḡba)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 渴望 (zh) ‎(kě'wàng)
Finnish: himo (fi), nälkä (fi)
French: soif (fr) f
Greek: λαχτάρα (el) f ‎(lachtára), πόθος (el) m ‎(póthos), πείνα (el) f ‎(peína)

Irish: ocras (ga) m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hunger (no) m

Nynorsk: hunger m
Portuguese: sede (pt) f
Russian: жа́жда (ru) f ‎(žážda)
Spanish: sed (es) f
Swahili: njaa (sw), unenge (sw)

Etymology 2Edit

From Old English hyngran.

VerbEdit

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

To be in need of food.
(figuratively) To have a desire (for); to long; to yearn.
I hungered for your love.
- Bible, Matthew v. 6
  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.
(archaic) To make hungry; to famish.