Sunday Word: Hangry

[sallymn]

hangry [hang-gree]

adjective:
feeling irritable or irrationally angry as a result of being hungry

Examples:

If you've ever felt hangry, consider this: Brown bears in Alaska woke up this spring after not eating for about 6 months. And no, 'hangry' might not be a technical term. But in this case, it's apt. (Bill Chappell, Fat Bear Week would be postponed by a government shutdown, BBC News, September 2023)

In one of the first studies to explore how hunger affects emotions as people go about their daily lives, psychologists found that the more hungry people felt, the more angry - or hangry - they became. (Ian Sample, 'Hangry is a real thing': psychologists find link between hunger and emotions, The Guardian, July 2022)

You probably know what it’s like to be hangry. It’s often the perfect storm of low blood sugar and fatigue coming together to bring out the monster within. If it can happen to us, it makes sense animals could feel this way too. (Mandi Jacewicz, Orange Cat's Behavior Before and After Eating Proves Animals Get Hangry Too, ParadePets, September 2023)

Even friends and family are fair game, perhaps because damage to a set of brain regions called the core face network means they can no longer distinguish a friend from a potentially tasty stranger. That insatiable appetite is a clue that the hypothalamus has gone haywire and is overproducing the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin, dooming them to be perpetually hangry. (Bonnie Berkowitz and Shelly Tan, Craving brains and hangry: Zombie behavior demystified by scientists, The Washington Post, October 2023)

A new study shows Americans need to be better about snacking, as three-fourths say they get 'hangry' five times a week. (Study: 75% of Americans get 'hangry' five times a week, CBS News Minnesota, September 2022)

and a video of a grumpy, hangry dog :)

Click to view

Origin:

First recorded in 1915-20; h(ungry) + angry. (Dictionary.com)

The earliest known use of the adjective hangry is in the 1910s. OED's earliest evidence for hangry is from 1918, in a letter by Arthur Ransome, journalist and writer. (Oxford Online Dictionary)