hunger

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a physiological need for food; the consequence of food deprivation
  2. noun strong desire for something (not food or drink)
  3. verb feel the need to eat

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”), Swedish hunger (“hunger”), Icelandic hungur (“hunger”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

hungriness

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