| 馁 |  něi | (bound form) hungry / starving / (bound form) dispirited / (literary) (of fish) putrid |   |
| 忍饥挨饿 | rěn jī ái è | starving / famished | |
| 饥寒交迫 | jī hán jiāo pò | beset by hunger and cold (idiom) / starving and freezing / in desperate poverty | |
| 哀鸿遍野 | āi hóng biàn yě | lit. plaintive whine of geese (idiom) / fig. land swarming with disaster victims / starving people fill the land | |
| 国破家亡 | guó pò jiā wáng | the country ruined and the people starving (idiom) | |
| 饱人不知饿人饥 | bǎo rén bù zhī è rén jī | The well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer (idiom). | |
| 饱汉不知饿汉饥 | bǎo hàn bù zhī è hàn jī | The well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer (idiom). | |
| 饿莩遍野 | è piǎo biàn yě | starving people everywhere (idiom) / a state of famine | |
| 放焰口 | fàng yàn kǒu | to feed the starving ghosts (i.e. offer sacrifice to protect the departed spirit) | |
| 饿殍 | è piǎo | starving people | |
| 饿莩 | è piǎo | starving people | |
| 救急不救穷 | jiù jí bù jiù qióng | help the starving but not the poor (idiom) | |
