Etymograph

English

hunger

Hunger comes from Middle English hunger ‘hungriness’, from Old English hungor ‘hunger, desire’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kenk-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kenk-1‘to burn, smart, desire, hunger, thirst’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hungruz1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hungr1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hungor1‘hunger, desire’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hunger1‘hungriness’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1596hunger1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hunger
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto XII: “O sacred hunger of ambitious minds!”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kenk-Wiktionary, English hunger‘to burn, smart, desire, hunger, thirst’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hungruzWiktionary, English hungerreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hungrWiktionary, English hungerreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hungorWiktionary, English hunger‘hunger, desire’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hungerWiktionary, English hunger‘hungriness’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1596hungerWiktionary, English hunger. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto XII: “O sacred hunger of ambitious minds!”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ‘to burn, smart, desire, hunger, thirst’

heel, hough, hock

through Proto-Germanic *hungruz

hungry

Another origin of hunger

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunkr-ú-sreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hungruzreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hungrijaną‘to be hungry, starve’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hungrijan‘to hunger, be hungry’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hyngran‘to be hungry’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hungren‘to hunger’
  7. Englishtodayhunger

Today it means

noun A need or compelling desire for food.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hunger”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kenk- / hunger

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