yearn

[yurn]

verb (used without object)

1. to have an earnest or strong desire; long.

   to yearn for a quiet vacation.

2. to feel tenderness; be moved or attracted.

   They yearned over their delicate child.

yearn

/ jɜːn /

verb

1. to have an intense desire or longing (for); pine (for)

2. to feel tenderness or affection

Other Word Forms

• yearner noun
• unyearned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of yearn¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English yernen, Old English giernan derivative of georn “eager”; akin to Old Norse girna “to desire,” Greek chaírein “to rejoice,” Sanskrit háryati “(he) desires”

Word History and Origins

Origin of yearn¹

Old English giernan; related to Old Saxon girnian, Old Norse girna, Gothic gairnjan, Old High German gerōn to long for, Sanskrit haryati he likes

Synonym Study

Yearn, long, hanker, pine all mean to feel a powerful desire for something. Yearn stresses the depth and passionateness of a desire: to yearn to get away and begin a new life; to yearn desperately for recognition. Long implies a wholehearted desire for something that is or seems unattainable: to long to relive one's childhood; to long for the warmth of summer. Hanker suggests a restless or incessant craving to fulfill some urge or desire: to hanker for a promotion; to hanker after fame and fortune. Pine adds the notion of physical or emotional suffering as a result of the real or apparent hopelessness of one's desire: to pine for one's native land; to pine for a lost love.

Example Sentences

It did not sound yearning or hopeful, like previous versions I’d heard.

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But they are also plangently individual, yearning to harmonize their fates with their true selves.

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Time-travelling to Swift's high school days in Tennessee, it reminisces about a boy she confined to the friend zone while yearning for a single kiss.

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The movie star’s mask of artifice briefly vanishes, and all that’s left is a puppy dog look of yearning, a sad acceptance that it’s too late to change certain things.

Read more on Salon

Her latest single, a gorgeous, yearning ballad called I Just Don't Know You Yet, has been played four million times on Spotify.

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Related Words

• ache 
• chafe 
• covet 
• crave 
• hanker 
• hunger 
• itch 
• pine 
• thirst