hungry

Etymology

From Middle English hungry, from Old English hungriġ, hungreġ (“hungry, famishing; meager”), from Proto-Germanic *hungragaz (“hungry”), equivalent to hunger +‎ -y. Cognate with Dutch hongerig (“hungry”), German hungrig (“hungry”), Swedish hungrig (“hungry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: Hungary (in some accents)

Adjective

hungry (comparative hungrier, superlative hungriest)

1. Affected by hunger; desiring of food; having a physical need for food.

   My kids go to bed hungry every night because I haven't got any money.

2. (figuratively) Eager, having an avid desire (‘appetite’) for something.
   • 1850, Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke, London: Chapman & Hall, Volume 2, Chapter 5, p. 56,

     They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

     The cruel, crawling foam,

     The cruel, hungry foam,

     To her grave beside the sea:

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2,

     Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

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

   a hungry soil

   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act V, Scene 3,

     […] What is this?

     Your knees to me? to your corrected son?

     Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach

     Fillip the stars […]

See also

• thirsty
• I am hungry