Question

famish verb Famish likely developed as an alteration of Middle English famen, meaning "to starve." The Middle English word was borrowed from the Anglo-French verb afamer, which etymologists believe came from Vulgar Latin affamare. We say "believe" because, while no written evidence has yet been found for the Vulgar Latin word affamare, it would be the expected source for the Anglo-French verb based on the combination of the Latin prefix ad- ("to" or "toward") and the root noun fames ("hunger"). In contemporary English, the verb famish is still used on occasion, but it is considerably less common than the related adjective famished, which usually means "hungry" or "starving" but can also mean "needy" or "being in want." 1 : to cause to suffer severely from hunger2 : to suffer for lack of something necessary

Accepted Answer

January 17, 2018 FAM-ish "At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion." — Herman Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener," 1853"Eating healthy regularly is more important than famishing to shed a few pounds." — Emily Long, The Daily Vidette: Illinois State University, 23 Aug. 2017

Word	famish
Date	January 17, 2018
Type	verb
Syllables	FAM-ish
Etymology	Famish likely developed as an alteration of Middle English famen, meaning "to starve." The Middle English word was borrowed from the Anglo-French verb afamer, which etymologists believe came from Vulgar Latin affamare. We say "believe" because, while no written evidence has yet been found for the Vulgar Latin word affamare, it would be the expected source for the Anglo-French verb based on the combination of the Latin prefix ad- ("to" or "toward") and the root noun fames ("hunger"). In contemporary English, the verb famish is still used on occasion, but it is considerably less common than the related adjective famished, which usually means "hungry" or "starving" but can also mean "needy" or "being in want."
Examples	"At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion." — Herman Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener," 1853 "Eating healthy regularly is more important than famishing to shed a few pounds." — Emily Long, The Daily Vidette: Illinois State University, 23 Aug. 2017
Definition	1 : to cause to suffer severely from hunger 2 : to suffer for lack of something necessary

Verb Famish Latin Middle English Word Anglo French Vulgar