hunger

See also: Hunger

Contents

English

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋɡə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

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”). 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.

   • Spenser

     O sacred hunger of ambitious minds!

Usage notes

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

Antonyms

• satiety
• satiation

Derived terms

• hunger is the best spice
• hungerless

Translations

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
• Azerbaijani: aclıq (az)
• Bashkir: аслыҡ (aslïq)
• Basque: gose
• Belarusian: го́лад (be) m (hólad)
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: naon (br) m
• 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
• Chichewa: njala
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 飢餓 (zh), 饥饿 (zh) (jī'è)

• Chukchi: гытъатгыргын (gytʺatgyrgyn)
• Chuvash: выҫӑ (vyśă), выҫлӑх (vyślăh)
• Coptic: ϩⲕⲟ (hko)
• Cornish: nown m
• Czech: hlad (cs) m
• Dalmatian: fum m
• Danish: sult (da)
• Dutch: honger (nl) m, trek (nl)
• Esperanto: malsato
• Estonian: nälg
• 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:

  Ancient: πεῖνα f (peîna), λιμός m (limós)

  Daily/ordinary need of food: πείνα (pína) f

  Desperate need of food: λιγούρα (liɣúra) f

  Scarcity of food due to natural disaster: σιτοδεία (sitoðía) f, ασιτία (asitía) f

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

• Greenlandic: please add this translation if you can
• Haitian Creole: grangou
• Hebrew: רָעָב‎ (he) m (ra'áv)
• Hindi: भूख (hi) f (bhūkh)
• Hungarian: éhség (hu)
• Icelandic: hungur (is) n, sultur (is) m
• Ido: hungro (io)
• Ingrian: nälkä
• Interlingua: fame
• Irish: ocras (ga) m
• Istriot: fan
• Istro-Romanian: fome
• Italian: fame (it) f
• Japanese: 飢え (ja) (うえ, ue), 空腹 (ja) (くうふく, kūfuku), 飢餓 (ja) (きが, kiga)
• Kabuverdianu: fómi
• Kazakh: аштық (kk) (aştıq)
• Khakas: ас (as)
• Kikuyu: ng'aragu class 9
• Korean: 굶주림 (gumjurim), 배고픔 (ko) (baegopeum)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: برسێتی‎ (ku) (birsêtî)

• Kyrgyz: ачтык (ky) (açtık)
• Latgalian: olkonums, bods

• Latin: fames f
• Latvian: bads m
• Lithuanian: alkis (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Honger m
• Macedonian: глад m (glad)
• Manx: accrys m
• Marathi: भूख (bhūkh)
• Mongolian: өлсгөлөн (mn) (ölsgölön)
• Nahuatl: mayāntli (nah), āpīztli (nah)
• Navajo: dichin
• Norman: fôim f (Guernsey)
• Northern Sami: nealgi
• 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, carpanta (es) (colloquial)
• 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)
• Votic: ńältšä
• Walloon: fwin (wa) f
• Welsh: newyn m
• West Frisian: honger, hûnger
• Yakut: аас (aas)

strong desire

• Arabic: رَغْبَة‎ f (raḡba)
• Bulgarian: жажда (bg) f (žažda)
• 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, anrachán 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)

See also

• thirst

Etymology 2

From Old English hyngran, from Proto-Germanic *hungrijaną.

Verb

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

1. To be in need of food.
2. (figuratively, usually with 'for' or 'after') 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.

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

Derived terms

• ahungered/anhungered

Translations

need food

• Arabic: جَاعَ‎ (jāʿa)
• Asturian: tener fame, tar esfamiáu
• Bulgarian: гладувам (bg) (gladuvam)
• Coptic: ϩⲕⲟ (hko)
• Czech: hladovět (cs)
• Dutch: honger (nl) hebben, hongeren (nl)
• Esperanto: malsati
• Finnish: nähdä nälkää
• French: avoir faim
• German: hungern (de), Hunger (de) haben, hungrig (de) sein
• Greek: πεινώ (el) (peinó)

  Ancient: πεινάω (peináō)

• Ido: hungrar (io)
• Irish: ocras (ga)
• Italian: avere fame
• Japanese: 飢える (ja) (ueru)
• Karakhanid: ااجْماقْ‎ (āčmaq)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: برسی‎ (ku) (birsî)

• Latin: ēsuriō (la)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sulte (no)

  Nynorsk: svelte

• Old Church Slavonic: алкати (alkati)
• Old Prussian: alkautwei
• Old Turkic: 𐰀𐰲‎ (āč-)
• Plautdietsch: hungrich sennen
• Portuguese: ter fome
• Romanian: fie foame (ro) (with dative)
• Russian: проголода́ться (ru) (progolodátʹsja), голода́ть (ru) (golodátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гладо̀вати

  Roman: gladòvati (sh)

• Spanish: tener hambre
• Swahili: kuwa na njaa (sw)
• Turkish: acıkmak (tr)
• Yakut: аас (aas)

desire

• Bulgarian: жадувам (bg) (žaduvam)
• Finnish: himoita (fi), isota (fi) (archaic)
• French: avoir soif
• Greek: ποθώ (el) (pothó), λαχταρώ (el) (lachtaró)

  Ancient: πεινάω (peináō)

• Japanese: 飢える (ja) (ueru)

• Norwegian: hungre
• Old Church Slavonic: алкати (alkati)
• Portuguese: desejar (pt)
• Russian: жа́ждать (ru) impf (žáždatʹ), алкать (ru) (alkatʹ)
• Spanish: tener sed
• Swahili: njaa (sw), unenge (sw)

References

• hunger in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• rehung

---

Danish

Noun

hunger

1. (uncommon) hunger

Declension

Declension of hunger

common gender	Singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	hunger	hungeren
genitive	hungers	hungerens

Synonyms

• sult

Derived terms

• hungersnød

---

German

Verb

hunger

1. First-person singular present of hungern.
2. Imperative singular of hungern.

---

Middle English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhunɡər/, [ˈhuŋɡər]

Noun

hunger (uncountable)

1. Hungriness; the feeling of being hungry or requiring satiation.
2. Hunger; a great lack or death of food or nutrition.
3. A shortage of food in a region or country; widespread hunger.
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

Declension of hunger
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	hunger	hungern	—	—
Genitive	hungers	hungerns	—	—

See also

• hungrig
• hungra