famish

The verb 'famish' originates from the Middle English 'famen', which itself is derived from the Old French 'afamer'. This Old French term traces its roots to the Latin verb 'famēs', meaning "hunger". The English form was later influenced by the addition of the suffix '-ish', a common verb-forming element. Thus, the literal construction "to make hungry" evolved into its modern sense of causing or suffering extreme hunger, a more intense and often archaic synonym for 'starve'.

Structure: fam (hunger) + ish (verb suffix) fam (from Latin fames, meaning "hunger, famine") + ish (a verb-forming suffix from Old English -isc, used to indicate "to make, to become")