hunger means A need or compelling desire for food.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, hunger ranks #2,256 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #2,279 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words, #2,792 of 14,322 for Scariest Words, #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words.
hunger is pronounced /ˈhʌŋɡə/.
Why “hunger” is a great word
A compelling desire or urgent need for food, or, more generally, any strong craving or yearning. From Middle English hunger, from Old English hungor ("hunger, desire; famine"), from Proto-West Germanic *hungr, from Proto-Germanic *hungruz ("hunger"), from Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ("to burn, smart, desire, hunger, thirst"), first attested in Old English c. 725 AD. Unlike "appetite," which suggests a civilized, predictable inclination, or "satiety," which denotes a placid absence of want, hunger is the body in alarm. It is the hollow ache that wakes you at three in the morning, the gnawing focus that blurs all else, the sour taste at the back of the throat as the mind sharpens to a point by absence. All life is shaped by its presence or its ghost, the ancient signal that something must be filled, or the self will begin to consume itself.
Etymology
From Middle English hunger, from Old English hungor (“hunger, desire; famine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hungr, 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”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish hunger (“hunger”), Faroese and Icelandic hungur (“hunger”).
noun
- A need or compelling desire for food.
- Any strong desire or need.“I have a hunger to win.”
verb
- To be in need of food.“Therefore if thine enemie hunger, feed him: if he thirst, giue him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heape coales of fire on his head.”
- To have a desire (for); to long; to yearn.“I hungered for your love.”
- To make hungry; to famish.
Words closest in meaning
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