jejune

The word 'jejune' entered English in the early 17th century directly from the Latin 'ieiūnus', which meant 'fasting, hungry, barren, or meager'. This Latin term is thought to be related to 'ieiunum', a neuter form referring to the 'fasting' or 'empty' part of the intestine, now known as the jejunum. The literal sense of emptiness or lack of nourishment was initially applied in English to describe meager or unsatisfying food. Over time, this concrete meaning evolved metaphorically to describe intellectual and artistic works that are similarly empty, insubstantial, dull, or intellectually immature, capturing the sense of being spiritually or mentally 'underfed'.

This word is a direct borrowing from Latin and is not productively segmented using modern English spelling substrings. Its core is the Latin adjective 'ieiūnus', meaning 'fasting, hungry, meager'.