hungry rice

noun

The cereal Digitaria exilis or white fonio.

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Meanings

nounhungry rice (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe cereal Digitaria exilis or white fonio.

    During the French colonial occupation of Mali and Senegal in the late 1800s, Europeans dubbed fonio “hungry rice”, believing it to be an inferior famine food. […]

    [2023 July 6, Maria C. Hunt, “Could an ancient, climate-friendly crop be the future of beer?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
fonio

Origin

So called by Europeans because it was mistakenly believed to be a famine food in West Africa.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hungry rice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hungry%20rice

MLA

“hungry rice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hungry%20rice. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hungry rice,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hungry%20rice.

Source: hungry rice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.