hanker

[ hang-ker ]

verb (used without object)

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

hanker

/ ˈhæŋkə /

verb

1. foll byfor, after, or an infinitive to have a yearning (for something or to do something)

Derived Forms

• ˈhankering, noun

Other Words From

• hanker·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hanker¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of hanker¹

C17: probably from Dutch dialect hankeren

Synonym Study

See yearn.

Example Sentences

Such is their seduction that poets, designers, and ad gurus hankering for inspiration have turned to the fruit since olden times.

From Ozy

They’ve been together for 20 years, and she knew this was something he’d been hankering to do for a long time.

From Time

The trip represented the birth of a new era in skiing, and a new era in Canada’s mountain legacy, opening a fresh frontier that drew skiers hankering for uncommon adventure and guides hungry for challenge.

From Time

They hankered that their future children might feel similarly, partly because, as Brandon put it, “They do better in just learning how to handle life, learning how to handle the real world.”

From Washington Post

As the world got weird and we sheltered at home, many of us hankered for the familiar, the stable, the uncool.

From Outside Online

Love brings exactly the type of fresh-faced diversity the GOP, and by extension, She-PAC desperately hanker for.

From The Daily Beast

I've seen just enough of flying fishes to hanker after Mandalay, just enough of Spaniards to long for a sight of Spain.

From Project Gutenberg

"I don't hanker much after the dry job of pumping the colonel," he added, winking at Clifford significantly.

From Project Gutenberg

What I really hanker for is to be a painter; and of portraits, on the whole, I think.

From Project Gutenberg

I certainly do hanker for about four or five little curly-headed rascals to take on my knee.

From Project Gutenberg

If there was one thing he did hanker after, it was southernwood; but he couldn't see her grubbin' up things that way.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• crave
• itch
• yearn