hanker

American  

[hang-ker] / ˈhæŋ kər /

verb (used without object)

1. to have a restless or incessant longing (often followed by after, for, or an infinitive).

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hanker British  

/ ˈhæŋkə /

verb

1. to have a yearning (for something or to do something)

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Related Words

See yearn.

Other Word Forms

• hankerer
  noun
• hankering
  noun

Etymology

Origin of hanker

First recorded in 1595–1605; from early Dutch dialect hankeren (cognate with Dutch hunkeren ), frequentative of hangen “to hang”; see hang

Explanation

To hanker for something is to crave it, or really want it. On a hot, sunny afternoon, you might hanker for a tall glass of sweet iced tea. People often hanker for relatively meaningless things, like chocolate cake or a nap or a new pair of shoes, but you can also hanker after more important things, like a long-lost friend or a new job. If you long for it, you hanker for it. The word's origin is a little fuzzy, but one good guess traces it to the Middle Dutch hangen, "to hang," from the idea of "hanging around" or "lingering."

Example Sentences

Even if he does still hanker after a prominent political role, he will almost certainly be barred from getting one.

From BBC • May 10, 2026

It’s enough to make a reader hanker for a volume devoted to the director’s long working relationship with Head or for a filmography refracted through the actresses he obsessed over and glorified.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

Intelligence officials have repeatedly made clear they hanker after the same generative AI tools that promise to revolutionize swaths of business and modernize economies.

From Seattle Times • May 13, 2024

Those communities also hanker for weather radar to track incoming squalls, Way says.

From Science Magazine • Mar. 8, 2023

We hanker to go on, even in the face of plain evidence that long, long lives are not necessarily pleasurable in the kind of society we have arranged thus far.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

• crave
• itch
• yearn