famish. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

famish

SYLLABICATION:	fam·ish
PRONUNCIATION:	fmsh
VERB:	Inflected forms: fam·ished, fam·ish·ing, fam·ish·es
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To cause to endure severe hunger. 2. To cause to starve to death.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To endure severe deprivation, especially of food. 2. To undergo starvation and die.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English famishen, alteration of famen, from Old French afamer, from Vulgar Latin ^*affamre : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin fams, hunger.
OTHER FORMS:	famish·ment —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.