Third person singular present tense of famish; means to suffer from extreme hunger or to cause someone to starve.
From Middle English 'famisshen,' derived from Old French 'famiss-' stem of 'famir,' from Latin 'famēs' meaning hunger. The -ish suffix indicates the state of undergoing the condition.
The word 'famish' almost disappeared from English, yet it survives mainly in the phrase 'famished' (meaning very hungry), showing how some archaic words cling to life through specific idioms rather than common usage.
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