Etymograph

English

hungrily

Hungrily comes from Middle English hungryly ‘hungrily, enviously’, from hungry ‘Malnourished: shriveled from or like from hunger’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hungragaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hungragaz1reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150hungriġ1‘hungry’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hungry2‘Malnourished: shriveled from or like from hunger’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hungryly3‘hungrily, enviously’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1905hungrily3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Middle English hungry
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English hungryly
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English hungrily
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett: “For at the last shall the thunder, fleeing to…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hungragazWiktionary, Middle English hungryreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150hungriġWiktionary, Middle English hungry‘hungry’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hungryWiktionary, Middle English hungryly‘Malnourished: shriveled from or like from hunger’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hungrylyWiktionary, English hungrily‘hungrily, enviously’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1905hungrilyWiktionary, English hungrily. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett: “For at the last shall the thunder, fleeing to…”

Formed from hungry + -ly

Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ‘to feel hunger’

…

Proto-Germanic *hungrugaz ‘hungry’

Proto-West Germanic *hungrug ‘hungry’

Old English hungriġ ‘hungry’

Middle English hungry ‘hungry’

English hungry

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *hungragaz

Today it means

adv In a hungry way or manner; with hunger.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hungrily”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Middle English hungry, Middle English hungryly. 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-Germanic *hungragaz / hungrily

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