Peckish

Peckish

Adjective · /ˈpek.ɪʃ/

Definition

(British informal) slightly hungry; having a mild appetite — I'm feeling a bit peckish, shall we get something to eat? The word occupying a specifically British register and conveying a polite, understated degree of hunger rather than genuine ravenousness.

Origin

From peck (to eat food in small amounts, to nibble — from Middle English pekken, to strike with a beak) + -ish (somewhat, rather — a suffix indicating a moderate or approximate degree). Peckish therefore meaning somewhat peck-ish — inclined to peck at food, having the mild nibbling hunger of a bird pecking at seed. Appearing in British English from the mid-eighteenth century. The word being distinctively British and largely unknown in American English, where hungry or a little hungry would be the equivalent.