starve

English

Etymology

From Middle English sterven, from Old English steorfan (“to die”), from Proto-Germanic *sterbaną (“to become stiff, die”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terp- (“to lose strength, become numb, be motionless”); or from Proto-Indo-European *sterbʰ- (“to become stiff”), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”); or a conflation of the aforementioned. Cognate with Scots sterve (“to die, perish”), Saterland Frisian stjerwa (“to die”), West Frisian stjerre (“to die”), Dutch sterven (“to die”), German Low German starven (“to die”), German sterben (“to die”), Icelandic stirfinn (“peevish, froward”), Albanian shterp (“sterile, unproductive, barren land”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /stɑːv/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)v

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

starve (third-person singular simple present starves, present participle starving, simple past starved or (obsolete) starf or (obsolete) storve, past participle starved or (obsolete) storven)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To die; in later use especially to die slowly, waste away.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i.4:

     noble Britomart / Released her, that else was like to starve, / Through cruell knife that her deare heart did kerue.

2. (intransitive) To die because of lack of food or of not eating.
   • 2007, Lisa Wingate, A Thousand Voices‎, page 76:

     "When all of you starve to death, Shasta, don't come crying to me, that's all."

3. (intransitive) To be very hungry.

   Hey, ma, I'm starving!

4. (transitive) To destroy, make capitulate or at least make suffer by deprivation, notably of food.
5. (transitive) To deprive of nourishment.

   They starved the child until it withered away.

6. (transitive, Britain, especially Yorkshire and Lancashire) To kill with cold.

   I was half starved waiting out in that wind.

Translations

obsolete: to die

• Finnish: nääntyä

• Russian: ча́хнуть (ru) impf (čáxnutʹ)

to die because of lack of food

• Arabic: مَاتَ جَوْعًا‏‎ (māta jawʿan)
• Belarusian: галада́ць (haladácʹ)
• Bulgarian: гладувам (bg) (gladuvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 餓死 (zh), 饿死 (zh) (èsǐ)

• Czech: hladovět (cs)
• Dutch: verhongeren (nl), sterven van de honger
• Faroese: svølta
• Finnish: nääntyä (nälkään (fi)), kuolla nälkään
• French: mourir de faim
• German: verhungern (de)
• Hungarian: éhenhal
• Italian: morire di fame

• Japanese: 餓死する (ja) (がしする, gashi suru), 飢える (ja) (うえる, ueru)
• Korean: 굶어죽다 (gulmeojukda)
• Polish: głodować (pl)
• Portuguese: morrer de fome
• Romanian: flămânzi (ro), suferi de foame, muri de foame
• Russian: голода́ть (ru) impf (golodátʹ), умира́ть от го́лода impf (umirátʹ ot góloda), умира́ть с го́лоду impf (umirátʹ s gólodu), умира́ть с го́лода impf (umirátʹ s góloda)
• Slovak: hladovať
• Slovene: stradati (sl)
• Swedish: svälta (sv)
• Telugu: ఆకలిచావు (te) (ākalicāvu)
• Ukrainian: голодува́ти (holoduváty)
• Vietnamese: chết đói

to be very hungry

• Dutch: rammelen (nl), sterven van de honger
• Finnish: kuolla nälkään
• French: mourir de faim (fr), crever de faim, crever la dalle (fr)
• Greek: πεθαίνω της πείνας (pethaíno tis peínas), ψοφάω της πείνας (psofáo tis peínas)
• Hungarian: éhezik (hu)
• Japanese: 飢える (ja) (うえる, ueru)
• Portuguese: estar (pt) morrendo (pt) de (pt) fome (pt), estar (pt) faminto (pt)
• Quechua: yarqay, mallay (qu)

• Romanian: muri de foame
• Russian: проголода́ться (ru) pf (progolodátʹsja), изголода́ться (ru) pf (izgolodátʹsja), умира́ть от го́лода impf (umirátʹ ot góloda), голода́ть (ru) (golodátʹ)
• Swedish: svälta (sv), vara svulten (sv), vara utsvulten (sv)
• Telugu: ఘోరకలి (te) (ghōrakali)
• Vietnamese: đói ngấu, đói meo
• Welsh: llwgu (cy)
• Yakut: аас (aas)

to destroy by deprivation

• Faroese: svølta
• Finnish: näännyttää, nälkiinnyttää

• Swedish: svälta (sv) (ut)

to deprive of nourishment

• Dutch: uithongeren (nl)
• Finnish: näännyttää
• French: affamer (fr)
• German: verhungern lassen, aushungern (de)
• Hungarian: éheztet
• Japanese: 飢えさせる (uesaseru)

• Maori: whakatiki, whakapuango
• Portuguese: esfomear (pt)
• Romanian: înfometa (ro)
• Russian: мори́ть го́лодом impf (morítʹ gólodom)
• Swedish: svälta (sv) (ut)
• Telugu: చప్పిడికూడు (cappiḍikūḍu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} affamer (fr)

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} పస్తు (te) (pastu)

Derived terms

• starvation
• starveling
• starving

Anagrams

• averts, ravest, traves, vaster, versta