餓 means “starvation, famished”

が · ga

Also: starve, hungry, thirst

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

うえる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ガ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 15 strokes

The story

Food (飠) beside 我, I myself: picture hunger so deep a person can think of nothing but feeding the self. 餓死 is death by starvation, and 餓鬼, the hungry ghosts of Buddhism, became ガキ, a rude word for a brat.

Used in 飢餓 (kiga, starvation/famine), 餓死 (gashi, starving to death), and 餓鬼 (gaki, hungry ghost/brat)

More from Plenty & Want

• 窮 cornered
• 飽 tire of
• 倹 frugal
• 貪 greedy
• 裕 ample
• 糧 provisions
• 剰 excess
• 乏 scarce
• 飢 starve

Learn 餓 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.