Hunger comes from Old English hungor, nearly unchanged in a thousand years, possibly from a PIE root meaning 'to burn'. The word's extraordinary stability reflects how core survival vocabulary resists change.
A feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food; a strong desire or craving for something.
From Old English hungor meaning 'hunger, famine, desire', from Proto-Germanic *hungruz, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kenk- meaning 'to burn, to suffer'. The connection to burning is preserved in the metaphor of a 'burning hunger'. The word has remained almost unchanged for over a thousand years — one of the most stable words in English. Its Germanic