hunger

See also: Hunger

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋɡɚ/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋɡə/
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”). Cognate with West Frisian honger, hûnger (“hunger”), Dutch honger (“hunger”), German Low German Hunger (“hunger”), German Hunger (“hunger”), Swedish hunger (“hunger”), Icelandic hungur (“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

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
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:
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 (うえ, ue), 空腹 (ja) (くうふく, kūfuku), 飢餓 (ja) (きが, kiga)
Kazakh: аштық (kk) (aştıq)
Khakas: ас (as)
Kikuyu: ng'aragu class 9
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
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
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)

Etymology 2Edit

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

VerbEdit

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

To be in need of food.
(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.
(archaic) To make hungry; to famish.