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)
• Hyphenation: hun‧gry

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 or 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 rice
• I'm hungry
• money-hungry
• power-hungry
• stay hungry
• thungry
• 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)
• Bhojpuri: भूखा (bhūkhā)
• Bikol Central: gutom (bcl)
• 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 (bhokilā)
• 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
• Romansch: fomentà, (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), tener hambre (to be hungry), afamado (es)
• 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)
• Venetan: 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)
• Yoruba: ebi

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

• Ottoman Turkish: آج (ac)
• 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)
• Ottoman Turkish: آج (ac)

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.