famished

The word 'famished' has its roots in the Latin noun 'fames', meaning hunger or famine. This term passed into Old French as 'afamer', a verb meaning 'to cause to starve', which was then adopted into Middle English as 'famen'. The modern English verb 'famish' emerged from this lineage, and by adding the common adjectival suffix '-ed', it forms a past participle used as an adjective. Thus, the literal meaning "reduced to a state of famine" evolved into the modern, emphatic sense of being extremely hungry.

Structure: famish (to suffer extreme hunger) + ed (adjective suffix) 'famish' originates from Middle English 'famen' (to starve), from Old French 'afamer', ultimately from Latin 'fames' (hunger, famine). The suffix '-ed' is an English adjectival suffix used to form participial adjectives.