hungry

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈhʌŋ.ɡri/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hungry, inherited from Old English hungrig (“hungry, famished”),^[2][3][4] formed from hungor “hunger” and -ig “-y”.^[3][5] It is a common West Germanic formation, like Dutch hongerig and German hungrig.^[2][6] It is related to hunger.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Feeling hunger, wanting food: about 950 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, eagerly desirous, is from about 1200.^[2][7] Of times and places marked by famine, it is from about 1250.^[7] Of food that does not satisfy, or of land that is poor and barren, it is from 1561 and later.^[7][8] In Scottish dialect, a hungry welcome was a cold reception.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 950 – feeling hunger.^[7]
• c. 1200 – eagerly desirous.^[2][7]
• c. 1250 – famine-stricken.^[7]
• 1561 – of food, unsatisfying.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Wanting or needing food.
2. Having a strong desire for something: hungry for success.
3. Showing hunger: a hungry look.
4. Of soil, not fertile.

Word family

• hungrily
• hungriness

Related words

• hunger

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)