famine

Borrowed from Middle French famine, itself from the root of Latin fames. Cognate with Spanish hambruna (“famine”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfæmɪn/

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• Rhymes: -æmɪn
• Hyphenation: fam‧ine

famine (countable and uncountable, plural famines)

1. (uncountable) Extreme shortage of food in a region.
   • 1831 July 15, “Of the Blood”, in Western Journal of Health‎, volume 4, number 1, L. B. Lincoln, page 38:

     It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils.

   • 1971, Central Institute of Research & Training in Public Cooperation:

     Dr. Bhatia pointed out that famine had occurred in all ages and in all societies where means of communication and transport were not developed.

2. (countable) A period of extreme shortage of food in a region.
   • 1986, United States Congress, House Select Committee on Hunger, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Famine and Recovery in Africa

     The root causes of the current famine are known: poverty, low health standards....

3. (dated) Starvation or malnutrition.
   • 1871 (orig. 426), Augustine, The City of God, transl. Marcus Dods:

     His own flesh, however, which he lost by famine, shall be restored to him by Him who can recover even what has evaporated.

4. Severe shortage or lack of something.
   • the Lancashire Cotton Famine

• imafen, infame

Inherited from Middle French and Old French famine, formed from the root of Latin famēs (“hunger”) with the suffix -ine.

• IPA^(key): /fa.min/

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famine f (plural famines)

1. famine

• crier famine

• faim

• “famine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• infâme

Formed from the root of Latin famēs (“hunger”), with the suffix -ine.

famine oblique singular, f (oblique plural famines, nominative singular famine, nominative plural famines)

1. famine

• fain

• Middle French: famine
  • → English: famine
  • French: famine