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. usually foll byfor or after or an infinitive to have an intense desire or longing (for); pine (for)
2. to feel tenderness or affection

Derived Forms

• ˈyearner, noun

Other Words From

• yearner noun
• un·yearned 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

They personify intangibles that sabermetrics can never quantify and that fans yearn to encounter: Hope.

From Los Angeles Times

Managers may yearn for the days when daily attendance was a given, but their employees have moved on to a new normal and appear to be in no mood to go back.

From Los Angeles Times

A House of Lords report published today says that young disabled people face continuous barriers to employment, while they yearn to thrive in their careers.

From BBC

This movement seemed to yearn for a specific conception of Western culture - a Nietzschean world in which the fittest survive, where disruption and chaos give birth to greatness.

From BBC

“I yearn to hug him again myself. I don’t know how much time either of us has left .… He is elderly now, and I have cancer. We can’t afford to wait.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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