Hangry (hungry + angry)

“Hangry” (hungry + angry) is a term for anger induced by hunger. If a restaurant is slow to deliver food, the customers could get “hangry.” “Hangry for hungry and angry” was cited in print in 1956 and “‘hangry,’ like when you are starving and mad all at the same time” in 1980; other citations date from the 1990s. “Hangry” was entered into the Urban Dictionary in 2005 and was the “Urban Word of the Day” for February 7, 2011.
 
There is a popular riddle called the “three words ending in -gry” The words “angry” and “hungry” are given, and a person is asked to guess the third word. Merriam Webster’s dictionary says that there are only two words ending in -gry, but “hangry” would be a third.
 
“Confungry” (confused + hungry) is similar word.
 
   
Wiktionary: hangry
Etymology
Blend of hungry and angry
Adjective
hangry (comparative more hangry, superlative most hangry)
1.hungry and angry, especially when the anger is induced by the hunger.
 
Google Books
American Imago
Volumes 13-14
1956
Pg. 381:
More complicated samples: slabor for slave labor, meducation for medical education, nissen for nicht wissen, hangry for hungry and angry, crimax for crime and climax, criumph for crime triumphing; some of these are quite admirable.
   
25 August 1980, The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA), “Eat, drink, etc., etc.” by Denny MacGougan, pg. A-4, col. 1:
Puyallup’s Walt Boepple reports he was told there are three English word ending in “gry” and he can only think of “angry” and “hungry.”
 
The other one, Walt, is “hangry,” like when you are starving and mad all at the same time. Actually, there isn’t another “gry” word. The question, according to columnist William Safire, is “a hoax, designed to provoke hours of useless brain-racking.”
 
Google Books
Bridging Two Worlds:
Aboriginal English and Crosscultural Understanding
By Jean Harkins
St. Lucia, Qld.: Univ. of Queensland Press
1994
Pg. 162:
A monster was described in a story as hangry, pronounced by the author as [angrl]. When asked whether it was angry or hungry, the author replied “Yes”.
   
Google Groups: rec.puzzles
Mark Hayworth
11/18/96
brain teasers - “Hangry”
The answer I propose is “hangry.”  It is an adjective with the definition “The feeling rec.puzzles readers get upon seeing a ‘-gry’ posting—that of being so angry at seeing yet another one that they want to hang the poster.”
Hey, can I claim invention of “hangry”?  I don’t recall seeing it before.  It would be an honor to be listed in the annals of rec.puzzles along side Tom Maciukenas (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)), the inventor of “nugry.”

Urban Dictionary
Hangry
February 7, 2011 Urban Word of the Day
When you are so hungry that your lack of food causes you to become angry, frustrated or both.
An amalgum of hungry and angry invented to describe that feeling when you get when you are out at a restaurant and have been waiting over an hour to get the meal that you have ordered.
“Damn! Where is that steak I ordered? We’ve been waiting for an hour and a half here. The service here is terrible! I’m starving! I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel really hangry!”
by Michael Francis Jan 15, 2005
 
Twitter
Chris Adams‏
@mrchrisadams  
Thinks ‘hangry’ (angry because you’re hungry) is a word more people should know about and use.
10:04 AM - 11 Dec 06
 
5 August 2007, New York (NY) Post, “Weird but True” by Lukas I. Alpert, pg. 22:
Feeling “hangry”? If you’re both hungry and angry, this place is for you. A new restaurant in China allows its diners to smash their dinnerware to vent their aggression.
   
theKitchn
09.11.12   2:30PM
A Word to Fear: Hangry!
Posted by Faith Durand
Emma used the word hangry in her recipe for granola bars earlier today, and it made me think about this very helpful word, a word to signal impending storm clouds and danger, a word to fear. Do you get hangry?! What happens when you do? Oh — not familiar with the term? Let me bring you up to speed. This is a word you should know.
 
Hangry is a word to describe the glowering state of hunger that has passed the pleasant edge of anticipation. The food has not arrived, you’re stuck in your car, dinner is late.
 
Running in NJ
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Hungry + Angry = Hangry
So, the smoothies generally fill me up from 8:00-10:00.  That’s not a long period.  Maybe because it’s in liquid form but would I really feel more full if I ate a handful of spinach and kale with some fruit?  I don’t think so.