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”; 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

We do often hanker to leave town on multimonth adventures that break us out of our routines.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

When people in the Niassa Special Reserve of northern Mozambique hanker for something sweet, they don’t call DoorDash or Uber Eats.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 6, 2023

Designers, pundits and consumers alike hanker for reasons to dress up again — routinely and in public.

From New York Times • Feb. 9, 2022

“We’ve got to bend, not break. Things like that are going to happen and we’ve got to hanker down and try to get the ball back. I mean, there’s just no excuses.”

From Seattle Times • Nov. 7, 2021

There is no question about our good intentions in this matter: we all hanker, collectively, to become applied scientists as soon as we can, overnight if possible.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

• crave
• itch
• yearn