ひもじい
ひもじい
adjective (i)
hungry, starving
1.
hungry, starving
Experiencing hunger, especially a deep or prolonged hunger. More evocative and literary than the everyday お腹が空いた.
ひもじい思いをする。
To go hungry.
戦後はひもじい日々が続いた。
In the postwar period, days of hunger continued.
子どもたちにひもじい思いだけはさせたくなかった。
I never wanted to let the children go hungry.
CONJUGATION:
- Negative: ひもじくない
- Past: ひもじかった
- Adverbial: ひもじく
USAGE:
Stronger and more emotive than お腹が空いた (I'm hungry). Often appears in narratives about poverty, wartime, or hardship. The set phrase ひもじい思いをする (to experience hunger / to go hungry) is the most common usage.
ETYMOLOGY:
Derived from ひもじ, a 女房詞 (court ladies' word) for 飢え (hunger), formed by taking the first syllable of ひだるい (hungry) and adding もじ.