hunger

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋɡə(ɹ)

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”).

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!

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

• satiety
• satiation

• hunger is the best spice
• hungerless

• thirst

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

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.

• ahungered/anhungered

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

• rehung

hunger

1. (uncommon) hunger

• sult

• hungersnød

hunger

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

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

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈhunɡər/, [ˈhuŋɡər]

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.

• hungren
• hungry
• hungrylych

• English: hunger
• Scots: hounger, hunger

• “hunger (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.

From Old Norse hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hunhruz.

hunger m (definite singular hungeren, uncountable)

1. hunger

• sult

• hungersnød

• hungrig

• “hunger” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse hungr

hunger m (definite singular hungeren) (uncountable)

1. hunger

• svolt

• hungersnaud, hungersnød

• hungrig

• “hunger” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Old Norse hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hunhruz.

• audio

  (file)

hunger c (uncountable)

1. hunger

• hungrig
• hungra