Etymology

famish

F4A1M3I1S1H4

Today it means: To starve (to death); to kill or destroy with hunger. Full definition →

Middle English famisshe ← Old French afamer
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromafamer
  2. Middle English · inherited fromfamisshe
  3. English todayfamish

From Middle English famisshe, from famen (“starve”), from Old French afamer, ultimately from Latin famēs (“hunger”). Compare affamish, famine. Cognate with Spanish hambre (“hunger”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.