Chinese word

饥饿

Pronunciation

Pinyinjī è

Meaning

  • adjectivehungry

Example

我现在很饥饿，想吃点东西。wǒ xiàn zài hěn jī è xiǎng chī diǎn dōng xī

I'm very hungry right now and want to eat something.

Illustration for 饥饿 (hungry)

More examples

孩子们玩了一上午，到了下午显得很饥饿。hái zi men wán le yí shàng wǔ dào le xià wǔ xiǎn de hěn jī è

After playing all morning, the children looked very hungry in the afternoon.

Core concept

A body pulled toward food by lack of nourishment, with the feeling ranging from an empty stomach to weakness.

Common phrases

  • 显得饥饿xiǎn de jī è

    appear hungry

  • 饥饿至极jī è zhì jí

    very hungry

  • 变得饥饿biàn de jī è

    get hungry

Similar words

饿è: Feeling hungry because there is no food in the stomach, as commonly expressed in conversation.
空腹kōng fù: Having no food in the stomach, described in a neutral and factual way.

Definition in Chinese

由于缺少食物而感到身体虚弱、需要进食的状态。yóu yú quē shǎo shí wù ér gǎn dào shēn tǐ xū ruò xū yào jìn shí de zhuàng tài

Word origin

饥 (jī, "shortage of food") + 饿 (è, "feel hungry") combine two hunger-related characters into a word for the bodily condition caused by not getting enough food.

Usage tips

  • In English, hunger can be metaphorical, as in hunger for power, but this Chinese word stays tied to physical lack of food, which keeps the meaning concrete in everyday Chinese.

Other meanings

  • hungernoun
  • starvationnoun

Opposites

Related words

  • 饥饿感jī è gǎnfeeling of hungernoun

Word lists with this word