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I am not sure which one is the correct one:

A: I am hungry of knowledge.
B: I hunger of knowledge.
C: I am hungry for knowledge.
D: I hunger for knowledge.

But my feeling says that A and B are the correct ones.

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3 Answers

up vote 11 down vote accepted

The correct preposition is for. One is hungry for knowledge. One can also hunger for it.

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up vote 3 down vote

C and D are both correct. However, "I hunger for" is not a common usage (writing as an Australian of British origin).

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1  
Yet "hunger for" is perfectly acceptable. It may not be colloquial or something you hear every day, but it's not weird of awkward. – Robusto Jan 12 '11 at 2:29
@Robusto: Agreed. It sounds a bit old fashioned or literary to me. You might consider adding to your answer that D is possible. – Cerberus Jan 12 '11 at 2:34
2  
"I Hunger for" is used widely, though it is far more common to say "I have a thirst for", particularly used with knowledge; "he has a thirst for knowledge". – Orbling Jan 12 '11 at 3:19
3  
Strangely, I think it actually only sounds awkward if you say "I hunger for spaghetti" or some other actual food. If you use it metaphorically, "hunger for" doesn't sound awkward or overly stuffy. Gotta love language! – Kosmonaut Jan 12 '11 at 3:57
1  
@Kosmonaut: I suspect that metaphoric usage often stays alive longer than literal usage. Just as many of our abstract words have concrete roots that are long forgotten. – Cerberus Jan 12 '11 at 5:40
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up vote 1 down vote

A and B are incorrect. C and D are both correct, choose which one looks better in the sentence as their meaning is practically the same.. just different verb tenses :)

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Right, but note that they are both in the present tense. – Cerberus Jan 12 '11 at 2:35
2  
I think the difference you are looking for is that hungry is an adjective and hunger is a verb. – Kosmonaut Jan 12 '11 at 3:56

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