Avoir une faim de loup

Expression: Avoir une faim de loup

Pronunciation: [ ah vwah roon feh(n) deu loo]

Meaning: to be ravenous, famished

Literal translation: to have a wolf's hunger

Register: informal

Notes

The French expression​ avoir une faim de loup indicates great hunger. It's a bit like the English expression "to wolf something down," except the approach is different: avoir une faim de loup describes how you feel, while the English expression indicates what you might do when feeling that way.

Avoir une faim de loup and its synonyms can be translated by any of these English equivalents:

• to be able to eat a horse (I could eat a horse!)
• to be (absolutely) famished
• to be ravenous
• to be ravenously hungry
• to be starving, starved

Example

• Je n'ai pas pris mon petit déj' ce matin, du coup j'ai une faim de loup !
• Translation: I didn't have breakfast this morning, so I'm starving!

Synonyms

• avoir l'estomac / le ventre creux—literally: to have an empty stomach
• avoir une de ces faims—literally: to have one of those hungers
• mourir de faim (je meurs de faim)—literally: to be dying of hunger (I'm dying of hunger)​

More

• Expressions with avoir
• Food in French