hunger
English edit
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈhʌŋɡə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhʌŋɡɚ/
Audio (GA) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌŋɡə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: hun‧ger
Etymology 1 edit
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 edit
hunger (countable and uncountable, plural hungers)
- A need or compelling desire for food.
- (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 edit
The phrase be hungry is more common than have hunger to express a need for food.
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
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See also edit
Etymology 2 edit
From Middle English hungren, from Old English hyngran, hyngrian, ġehyngrian (“to be hungry”), from Proto-West Germanic *hungrijan, from Proto-Germanic *hungrijaną.
Verb edit
hunger (third-person singular simple present hungers, present participle hungering, simple past and past participle hungered)
- (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.
- (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.
- (archaic, transitive) To make hungry; to famish.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
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References edit
- “hunger”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams edit
Danish edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
hunger
- (uncommon) hunger
Declension edit
common gender |
Singular | |
---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | |
nominative | hunger | hungeren |
genitive | hungers | hungerens |
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
German edit
Verb edit
hunger
- inflection of hungern:
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
- (Early ME) hunngerr, hungor, hungær
- hunguer, honguer, honger, hungre, hongre, hungere, hongur, hounger, hounguer, hungir, hungyr, hungur
Etymology edit
From Old English hungor, from Proto-West Germanic *hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hungruz.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
hunger (uncountable)
- Hungriness; the feeling of being hungry or requiring satiation.
- 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.
- 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) […]
- Hunger as a metaphorical individual; the force of hunger.
- (rare) Any strong drive or compulsion.
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
References edit
- “hunger, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.
Norwegian Bokmål edit
Etymology edit
From Old Norse hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hunhruz.
Noun edit
hunger m (definite singular hungeren, uncountable)
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
References edit
- “hunger” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
hunger m (definite singular hungeren) (uncountable)
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
References edit
- “hunger” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
From Old Norse hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hunhruz.
Pronunciation edit
audio (file)
Noun edit
hunger c (uncountable)
Declension edit
Declension of hunger | ||||
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Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | hunger | hungern | — | — |
Genitive | hungers | hungerns | — | — |