Hunger Meaning
/ˈhʌŋɡə/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA need or compelling desire for food.
nounAny strong desire or need.
Sentence Examples
To him, hunger was an abstract concept; he always had enough to eat.
With hunger and fatigue, the dog died at last.
Around fifty people die of hunger every day in the camp.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The explorer felt a sharp ____ in his stomach after not eating for two days.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The charity's primary mission is to help eliminate world ____ through sustainable farming.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"O sacred hunger of ambitious minds!"
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1:
"When gangsters bump my shit, can they feel my hunger?"
— 2003, “What Up Gangsta”, in Curtis Jackson, Rob Tewlow (lyrics), Reef Tewlow (music), Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent, New York City: Shady Records:
"Putin's unwillingness to declare another partial reserve call up has created a wider manpower hunger in the Russian military and border service, and Putin alone maintains the ability to remedy this issue."
— 2025 February 6, Angelica Evans, “Ukraine’s Kursk Incursion: Six Month Assessment”, in Ukraine Project, Institute for the Study of War:
"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."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 12:20:
"Blessed are they which doe hunger and thirst after righteousnesse: for they shall be filled."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:6:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The explorer felt a sharp ____ in his stomach after not eating for two days.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The charity's primary mission is to help eliminate world ____ through sustainable farming.