Wordwyrt

starve

/sˈtɑːv/STAHRV
/sˈtɑɹv/STAHRV

Meaningdie

Common meaning: to suffer or die from lack of food

Journey through time

  1. Old Englishsteorfan‘to die’sourceB&T
  2. Middle Englishsterven‘to die’source
  3. Englishmeaning shiftsto die → to suffer or die from lack of foodstarve‘to suffer or die from lack of food’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English steorfan ‘to die’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry STARVE, p. 592 · dictionary scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app