Etymologically
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hungry

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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
  • 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)