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飢餓 (きが) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Common word JLPT N1 Freq. Frequency Top 20,000 Meanings 1
noun
starvation ; famine ; hunger
Refers to severe lack of food, often on a large scale or in a serious context. Used in news, formal writing, and discussions of humanitarian crises.
Written forms 飢き 餓が Usage 98%
Standard kanji spelling; high-frequency news term.
饑き 餓が Usage 2%
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form; 飢 is the modern standard.
ため
に
募ぼ
金きん
が
行おこな
わ
れ
た
。
A fundraiser was held to help people suffering from famine.
starve, hungry, thirst
Similar words 空くう 腹ふく 空腹 is ordinary physical hunger (an empty stomach), while 飢餓 implies severe, often prolonged lack of food and is more formal.
餓が 死し 餓死 means death from starvation, the extreme outcome of 飢餓.
Etymology Compound of 飢 (ki, 'hunger, starve') and 餓 (ga, 'starve'). Both kanji convey severe hunger; the word is a Sino-Japanese term used in formal and technical contexts.
