hungry

English

Etymology

From Middle English hungry, from Old English hungriġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hungrug, from Proto-Germanic *hungrugaz (“hungry”); equivalent to hunger +‎ -y. Cognate with West Frisian hongerich (“hungry”), Dutch hongerig (“hungry”), German hungrig (“hungry”), Swedish hungrig (“hungry”), Icelandic hungraður (“hungry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋɡɹi
• Homophone: Hungary (in some accents)

Adjective

hungry (comparative hungrier, superlative hungriest)

1. Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food.

   Synonyms: famished, peckish, starving

   My kids go to bed hungry every night because I haven’t got much money for food.

   I woke up very hungry and made some toast.

2. Causing hunger.

   All this gardening is hungry work.

3. (figuratively) Eager, having an avid desire (‘appetite’) for something.

   young and hungry

   the students are hungry to learn

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

   • 1850, [Charles Kingsley], chapter V, in Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 5:

     They rowed her in across the rolling foam, / The cruel, crawling foam, / The cruel, hungry foam, / To her grave beside the sea:

   • 2022 November 23, Hadley Freeman, “Like a cinema virgin: how Madonna went stratospheric making Desperately Seeking Susan”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     It’s an astonishing roll call of future talent from when they were still young and hungry in Manhattan.

4. Not rich or fertile; poor; barren; starved.

   a hungry soil

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     […] What is this? / Your knees to me? to your corrected son? / Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach / Fillip the stars […]

Derived terms

• ahungry, anhungry
• bloodhungry
• drungry
• go hungry
• hangry
• horngry
• hungries
• hungrily
• hungriness
• hungry as a hog
• hungry ghost
• hungry like the wolf
• hungry like the wolf
• hungry rice
• I'm hungry
• money-hungry
• power-hungry
• stay hungry
• unhungry

 

Translations

affected by hunger; desirous of food

• Abkhaz: амлага (amlaga)
• Albanian: i uritur (sq)
• Arabic: جَائِع (jāʔiʕ), جَوْعَان (jawʕān)

  Egyptian: جعان m (gaʕān)

  Gulf Arabic: جعان (yuʕān)

  Hijazi Arabic: جيعان (jīʕān), جايع (jāyiʕ), جوعان (jūʕān)

  Iraqi Arabic: جيعان (jīʕān)

  Moroccan Arabic: جيعان m (jīʕān)

  San'ani Arabic: جايع (jāyaʕ)

  South Levantine Arabic: جوعان (jūʕān)

• Armenian: սոված (hy) (sovac), քաղցել (hy) (kʻaġcʻel)
• Ashkun: abót
• Asturian: afamiáu, esfamiáu, famiáu, famientu
• Avar: вакъарав (waqxʼaraw)
• Azerbaijani: ac (az)
• Bashkir: ас (as)
• Basque: gosebera, gose
• Belarusian: гало́дны (be) (halódny)
• Bengali: ক্ষুধার্ত (bn) (khudharto)
• Bislama: hanggre
• Bulgarian: гла́ден (bg) (gláden)
• Burmese: ဆာ (my) (hca)
• Catalan: afamat (ca), (to be hungry): tenir fam
• Chechen: меца (meca)
• Chickasaw: hopoba
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 肚餓／肚饿 (tou⁵ ngo⁶), 餓／饿 (ngo⁶), 飢餓／饥饿 (gei¹ ngo⁶)

  Dungan: вә (və)

  Hakka: 肚枵 (tú-yâu), 肚飢／肚饥 (tú-kî)

  Hokkien: 飢／饥 (zh-min-nan) (ki), 枵 (zh-min-nan) (iau)

  Mandarin: 飢餓／饥饿 (zh) (jī'è), 餓／饿 (zh) (è), 飢／饥 (zh) (jī)

• Chinook Jargon: ulu
• Chuvash: выҫӑ (vyś̬ă)
• Czech: hladový (cs) m
• Danish: sulten (da)
• Dolgan: аччык
• Dutch: hongerig (nl) (see usage notes on that page), (to be hungry) honger hebben
• Esperanto: malsata
• Estonian: näljane (et)
• Finnish: nälkäinen (fi)
• French: affamé (fr), (to be hungry): avoir faim (fr)
• Galician: famento (gl) m, esfameado m, (to be hungry): ter fame
• Gallurese: famitu
• Georgian: მშიერი (mšieri), დამშეული (damšeuli)
• German: hungrig (de); (to be hungry): Hunger haben
• Gothic: 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (grēdags)
• Greek: πεινασμένος (el) (peinasménos), νηστικός (el) (nistikós)
• Guaraní: vare'a
• Hadza: please add this translation if you can
• Haitian Creole: grangou
• Halkomelem: kw'à:y
• Hebrew: רָעֵב (he) (ra'év)
• Hindi: भूखा (hi) (bhūkhā)
• Hungarian: éhes (hu)
• Icelandic: svangur (is) m
• Ido: hungroza (io)
• Indonesian: lapar (id)
• Ingush: меца (meca)
• Irish: ocrach; (to be hungry) ocras a bheith ort
• Italian: affamato (it), (to be hungry): avere fame
• Japanese: 空腹な (くうふくな, kūfuku na), 飢えた (ja) (うえた, ueta, かつえた, katsueta), お腹が空いている (おなかがすいている, onaka ga suite iru), 腹が減っている (ja) (はらがへっている, hara ga hette iru), 饑い (hidarui)
• Jarai: rơmŏn
• Javanese: luwé
• Kamkata-vari:

  Kamviri: ṓtë

  Kata-vari: avtë́

• Kazakh: аш (aş)
• Khakas: ас (as)
• Khalaj: âç
• Khmer: ឃ្លាន (km) (khliən)
• Korean: 배고프다 (ko) (baegopeuda), 굶주리다 (ko) (gumjurida)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بِرسی (birsî)

  Laki: ڤِرسێ (virsê), ڤِرِسنێ (virisnê)

  Northern Kurdish: birçî (ku), birsî (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: وِرسێ (wirsê)

• Kyrgyz: ач (ky) (ac)
• Ladino: ambyerto
• Lao: ຫິວ (hiu)
• Latin: ēsuriēns, iēiūnus
• Latvian: izsalcis
• Lithuanian: alkanas (lt) m, alkana (lt) f, išbadėjęs m, išbadėjusi f
• Louisiana Creole French: fim
• Luxembourgish: hongereg
• Macedonian: гладен (gladen)
• Malagasy: noana (mg)
• Malay: lapar (ms)
• Maltese: bil-ġuħ, jħoss ġuħ
• Mizo: rilṭam
• Mongolian: өлөн (mn) (ölön), өлсгөлөн (mn) (ölsgölön)
• Nauruan: metur (na)
• Norman: affanmé
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sulten (no), hungrig

  Nynorsk: svolten, hungrig

• Occitan: afamat (oc), (to be hungry): ^{(please verify)} aver fam
• Odia: ଭୋକିଲା (bhokila)
• Old English: hungriġ, (to be hungry) hyngran
• Old Javanese: lapa
• Old Prussian: alkīns
• Old Turkic: 𐰀𐰲 (āč)
• Ossetian: стонг (stong)
• Ottoman Turkish: آج (ac)
• Persian: گرسنه (fa) (gorosne)
• Polish: głodny (pl) m
• Portuguese: faminto (pt), com fome, esfomeado (pt)
• Prasuni: vutá
• Romani: bokhalo
• Romanian: flămând (ro), (to be hungry): i fi foame
• Romansh: fomentà (rm), (to be hungry): avair fom
• Russian: голо́дный (ru) (golódnyj)
• Samoan: fia 'ai
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: famìu

  Logudorese: famìdu, afframicosau

• Sassarese: famiddu
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гладан

  Roman: gladan (sh)

• Slovak: hladný (sk)
• Slovene: lačen (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: głodny

  Upper Sorbian: hłódny

• Spanish: hambriento (es), (to be hungry):tener hambre
• Swedish: hungrig (sv)
• Tajik: гурусна (tg) (gurusna)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Tatar: ач (aç)
• Tausug: mahapdi'
• Tetum: lahak
• Thai: หิว (th) (hǐu), ท้องเลว (tóng leo)
• Tibetan: ལྟོགས་པ (ltogs pa)
• Tocharian B: keścye
• Tok Pisin: hanggre, hangre
• Tongan: fiekaia
• Turkish: aç (tr)
• Turkmen: aç (tk)
• Tuvan: аш (aş)
• Ukrainian: голо́дний (holódnyj)
• Urdu: بھوکا (bhūkā)
• Uyghur: ئاچ (ach)
• Uzbek: och (uz)
• Venetian: famadìn
• Vietnamese: đói (vi)
• Waigali: atë
• Walloon: (to be hungry) aveur fwin (wa)
• Welsh: newynog (cy), newynllyd
• West Coast Bajau: lingantu
• White Hmong: tshaib
• Yakut: аччык (accık)
• Yiddish: הונגעריק (hungerik)

eager, having a desire for something

• Bulgarian: жадуващ (bg) (žaduvašt)
• Dutch: hongerend (nl), hongerig (nl), begerig (nl), lustend (nl), snakkend (nl)
• Estonian: ihkav
• Finnish: nälkäinen (fi)
• Galician: degoxón m, debecido m, gotroñón m, debuón m, degoirado m, arelante m
• German: gierig (de)
• Greek: πεινασμένος (el) m (peinasménos)
• Irish: amplach, amplúil
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hungrig

  Nynorsk: hungrig

• Polish: spragniony (pl) m
• Portuguese: faminto (pt)
• Russian: а́лчущий (ru) (álčuščij), жа́ждущий (ru) (žážduščij)
• Spanish: hambriento (es)
• Swedish: hungrig (sv)
• Thai: กระหาย (th) (gràhăai)

Not rich or fertile

• Bulgarian: изтощен (bg) (iztošten)
• French: désolé (fr), infertile (fr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} lapar (id)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} birsî (ku), ^{(please verify)} birçî (ku)

• Marshallese: ^{(please verify)} kwule
• Tamil: ^{(please verify)} பசி (ta) (paci)

See also

• thirsty
• I am hungry

Middle English

Alternative forms

• (Early ME) hungrig, hunngriȝ, houngrie
• hungrie, hungri, hungre, hungery, hongry, hungury, hungorie, hungrye

Etymology

From Old English hungriġ, from Proto-Germanic *hungragaz; equivalent to hunger +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhunɡriː/, [ˈhuŋɡriː]

Adjective

hungry

1. Hungry or starving; afflicted by hunger or starvation.
2. Voracious; having a great desire or compulsion to eat.
3. Haggard, scrawny; shriveled due to hunger or starvation.
4. (rare) Due to hunger; because of one's appetite.
5. (rare) Desirous; wanting something to a great degree.
6. (rare) Causing or producing hunger.
7. (rare) Of earth; not productive.

Descendants

• English: hungry
• Scots: hungry
• Yola: hungree

References

• “hungrī(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.

Noun

hungry

1. Those who are hungry, starving, or of little means.

References

• “hungrī(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.