hunger stone
Syllables: hun·ger stone/ˈhʌŋɡə ˌstəʊn/US/ˈhʌŋɡɚ ˌstoʊn/
hunger stone noun: a stone, either naturally exposed or intentionally embedded in a river during a drought, which is dated and often inscribed to mark the water level as a warning to future generations that they may face famine if the water reaches that low level again. Such stones are common in Central Europe.
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Noun
hunger stone (plural hunger stones)
- A stone, either naturally exposed or intentionally embedded in a river during a drought, which is dated and often inscribed to mark the water level as a warning to future generations that they may face famine if the water reaches that low level again. Such stones are common in Central Europe.
- If there were a "hunger stone" in the Fox river like the one in the Elbe, it would now be showing its unwelcome face above the waters—which is equivalent to saying that the water level, and power correspondingly, is very low indeed.1918 August 14, “Topics of Interest in Northern Wisconsin”, in Thomas J. Keenan, editor, Paper: A Weekly Technical Journal for Paper and Pulp Mills, volume XXII, number 23, New York, N.Y.: Paper...
- In the Rhine, off Bingen, there is a cluster of rocks known as the "hunger stones," which are visible only in years of extraordinary, protracted dry weather. When they can be seen, it is supposed to mean a year of poor food crops but incomparable wine.1946, The New Yorker, volume 22, part 5, New York, N.Y.: F-R Publishing Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 69, column 1
Examples of hunger stone in a sentence
- Being here in Frankfurt reminds me of this region's famous »Hungersteine«, or hunger stones, as the Main River boatmen used to call the rocks that became visible when the water level was low.1993, Alfred-Herrhausen-Gesellschaft für Internationalen Dialog [Alfred Herrhausen Society for International Dialogue], Society in...
- It sat on the bluffs of the Susquehanna, where I discovered the hunger stones, which in most years were covered by the river and could be seen only during drought years.2000, Werner H. Von Rosenstiel, Tales of an American Soldier: From KP to Seeing His Former Nazi Leaders in the Dock at Neuremberg...
- A 2018 summer drought, for example, exposed "hunger stones" in the Czech Elbe River.2020, Valerie Trouet, “Winter is Coming”, in Tree Story: The History of the World Written in Rings, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins...
Forms of hunger stone
| plural | hunger stones |
|---|
Origin of hunger stone
Calque of German Hungerstein, from Hunger (“hunger”) + Stein (“rock, stone”).
Questions about hunger stone
- What does hunger stone mean?
- Hunger stone means a stone, either naturally exposed or intentionally embedded in a river during a drought, which is dated and often inscribed to mark the water level as a warning to future generations that they may face famine if the water reaches that low level again. Such stones are common in Central Europe.
- How do you use hunger stone in a sentence?
- Being here in Frankfurt reminds me of this region's famous »Hungersteine«, or hunger stones, as the Main River boatmen used to call the rocks that became visible when the water level was low.
- What part of speech is hunger stone?
- Hunger stone is a noun.
- How do you pronounce hunger stone?
- Hunger stone is pronounced /ˈhʌŋɡə ˌstəʊn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hunger stone?
- The plural of hunger stone is hunger stones.
Words near hunger stone in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hunger stone (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hunger stone.wav.
Cite this entry: “hunger stone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hunger_stone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.