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# The Good Oil Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-good-oil-word-of-the-day-795/
- Published: 2026-10-21T17:15:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-21T17:15:27.000Z
- Author: David Theobald
- Tags: General, Word of the Day

The word for today is…

famish (verb) -

*transitive verb*  
1a: to cause to suffer severely from hunger —usually used in passive constructions  
b: to make very hungry —usually used in passive constructions  
2 *archaic* : to cause to starve to death

*intransitive verb*  
1 *archaic* : starve  
2: to suffer for lack of something necessary

Source : [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/famish?ref=goodoil.news)

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."

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