Skip to main content
PlainSpell

hunger

hun·gerUK /ˈhʌŋɡə/noun, verb

hunger is spelled H-U-N-G-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (hun·ger). It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hunger means “A need or compelling desire for food” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hunger is hungers.

How many letters and syllables are in hunger?

Letters6: H-U-N-G-E-R
Syllables2: hun·ger
In writing13 times per million words; the 6,047th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is hunger?

Hunger appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce hunger?

  • UK /ˈhʌŋɡə/
  • UK [ˈhʌŋɡə]
  • /ˈhʊŋɡə/

Hunger has 2 syllables, split hun·ger in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hunger.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with hunger?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hunger from its last stressed vowel (/ʌŋɡə/, British pronunciation):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of hunger

  • hungers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • hungering participle, present
  • hungered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does hunger mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A need or compelling desire for food.

  2. 2

    Any strong desire or need.

    I have a hunger to win.

verb

  1. 1

    To be in need of food.

  2. 2

    To have a desire (for); to long; to yearn.

    I hungered for your love.

  3. 3

    archaicTo make hungry; to famish.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Hunger in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfaim (need for food), soif (strong desire), avoir faim (need food), avoir soif (desire)
GermanHunger (need for food), hungern, Hunger haben, hungrig sein (need food)
Portuguesefome (need for food), sede (strong desire), ter fome (need food), desejar (desire)
Spanishhambre, gazuza, gusa, fambre (desus.), fiaca, hambrosio (need for food)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does hunger come from?

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”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after hunger