yearning

English

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈjɝnɪŋ/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjɜːnɪŋ/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nɪŋ
Hyphenation: yearn‧ing

Etymology 1

From Middle English yerning, from Old English ġierning, ġierninge. Equivalent to the gerund (yearn + -ing). yearn comes from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan, from Proto-Germanic *girnijaną, from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) + *-janą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to yearn for”).

Noun

yearning (plural yearnings)

A wistful or melancholy longing.
She had a yearning to see her long-lost sister again.

Related terms

yearn

Translations

wistful or melancholy longing

Arabic: شَوْق‎ (ar) m (šawq)
Armenian: կարոտ (hy) (karot)
Bulgarian: копнеж (bg) m (kopnež), жадуване (bg) n (žaduvane)
Catalan: anhel (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 憧憬 (zh) (chōngjǐng)
Czech: stesk (cs) m, tesknění n, stýskání n
Danish: længsel c
Esperanto: dezirego
Finnish: kaipuu (fi), kaipaus (fi), ikävä (fi)
French: aspiration (fr) f, envie (fr) f
Georgian: წყურვილი (c̣q̇urvili)
German: Sehnsucht (de) f
Greek:
Ancient: πόθος m (póthos), ὄρεξις f (órexis)
Hebrew: כִּיסּוּפִים‎ (he) (kisufim)
Italian: brama (it) f, nostalgia (it) f, anelito (it) m, voglia (it) f, desiderio (it) m, bramosia (it) f, struggimento (it) m
Japanese: あこがれ (ja) (akogare)
Kapampangan: dulap
Korean: 동경 (ko) (donggyeong)
Maori: poreirewa
Polish: tęsknota (pl) f
Portuguese: saudade (pt)
Romanian: dor (ro) n, dorință arzătoare f, năzuință (ro) f
Russian: тя́га (ru) f (tjága), скло́нность (ru) f (sklónnostʹ), стремле́ние (ru) n (stremlénije), тоска́ (ru) f (toská) (sadness)
Sanskrit: छन्दस् (sa) n (chandas)
Serbo-Croatian: čežnja (sh) f
Spanish: anhelo (es) m
Tocharian B: ñyās
Turkish: hasret (tr), özlem (tr), iştiyak (tr)

Verb

yearning

present participle and gerund of yearn

Etymology 2

PIE word
*ḱóm

From earlier yerning, from Middle English yernyng, erning, renning. From Old English rynning and gerunnen, geurnen (“run together, coagulated, curdled”), past participles of gerinnan, geirnan, respectively. Influenced by Middle English yern (“to (cause to) coagulate or curdle”), Old English iernan (“to run, flow”), metathesized forms derived from the same origin. From verbal prefix ge- + rinnan (“to run”). First element is from Proto-West Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“with, by”); second element is from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃r̥-néw-ti, from *h₃er- (“to move”). Doublet of rennet, run.

Noun

yearning (countable and uncountable, plural yearnings)

(Scotland, archaic) rennet (an enzyme to curdle milk in order to make cheese).

Related terms

yearn
earn
rennet

Anagrams

renaying