Everyone understands the word “hungry” — it means someone feels a desire for food. But language gives us the capacity for nuance. Someone with an enormously large hunger might be described as famished, and their tablemate who only wants a few bites might say they’re feeling peckish. The word “esurient” — from the Latin “esse,” meaning “eat” — describes a particularly greedy type of hunger. If you see someone gobbling the dinner rolls or perhaps hoarding their wealth (hunger can be for money or love, among other things), they might be esurient.