Standard Lemma guide

yarn

noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: yän
  • Received-Pronunciation: /jɑːn/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: yärn
  • US: /jɑɹn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)n
  • homophone: Jan (non-rhotic)
  • CMU ARPABET: Y AA1 R N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A twisted strand of fibre used for knitting or weaving.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Bundles of fibres twisted together, and which in turn are twisted in bundles to form strands, which in their turn are twisted or plaited to form rope.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: nautical, transport

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A story, a tale, especially one that is incredible.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • spin a yarn

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To tell a story or stories, especially one that is lengthy or unlikely to be true.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

Examples

  • 1935, Christopher Isherwood, Mr Norris Changes Trains (U.S. title: The Last of Mr Norris), Chapter Thirteen, in The Berlin Stories, New York: New Directions, 1963, p. 152, “Well, well!” exclaimed Mr. van Hoorn. “Here are the boys! As hungry as hunters, I’ll be bound! And we two old fogies have been wasting the whole afternoon yarning away indoors. My goodness, is it as late as that? I say, I want my tea!”

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a fine cord of twisted fibers (of cotton or silk or wool or nylon etc.) used in sewing and weaving

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: thread

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cord

Narrower terms: cotton, dental floss, floss, Lastex, ligature, metallic, pile, nap, purl, suture, tinsel, warp, woof, weft, filling, pick, worsted, worsted yarn

6

noun

Meaning 6

the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his narration was hesitant

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: narration, recital

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: report, account

Narrower terms: relation, telling, recounting

7

verb

Meaning 7

tell or spin a yarn

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: tell, narrate, recount, recite

History

Etymology

From Middle English yern, yarn, from the Old English ġearn (“yarn, spun wool”), from Proto-West Germanic *garn, from Proto-Germanic *garną (“yarn”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵhorn-, *ǵherH- (“tharm, guts, intestines”). Cognates Akin to West Frisian jern, Dutch garen (“yarn”), German Garn (“yarn”), Danish garn, Swedish garn (“yarn, thread”), Icelandic garn (“yarn”), Latin hernia (“rupture”), Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string”), Sanskrit हिर (hira, “band”). Compare also the obsolete doublet garn.

Across languages

Translations

166 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: garing — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Albanian: fije — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Aleut: chngax̂ — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Arabic: خَيْط (ḵayṭ) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Arabic: دوبارة (dubara) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Arabic: خيط (xéṭ) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Arabic: بكرة (bakara) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Arabic: خيط (xeṭ) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Armenian: մանվածք (manvackʻ) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Azerbaijani: iplik — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Azerbaijani: ip — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Belarusian: пра́жа (práža) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Bulgarian: пре́жда (préžda) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Burmese: ချည် (hkyany) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Catalan: fil — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Chakma: 𑄙𑄉 (dhāgā) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Chinese Cantonese: 冷 (laang1) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Chinese: 膨紗 /膨纱 (zh-min-nan) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Chinese: 毛線 /毛线 (mô͘-sòan) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Chinese Mandarin: 紗線 /纱线 (shāxiàn) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Chinese Mandarin: 紗 /纱 (shā) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Chinese Mandarin: 毛線 /毛线 (máoxiàn) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Czech: příze — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Czech: vlákno — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Czech: nit — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Danish: garn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Dutch: garen — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Esperanto: fadeno — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Estonian: lõng — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Estonian: kedrus — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Faroese: garn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Finnish: lanka — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Finnish: rihma — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • French: fil — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Galician: cerro — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Galician: fiado — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Georgian: ნართი (narti) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Georgian: ძაფი (ʒapi) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • German: Garn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Greek: νήμα (níma) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Ancient Greek: ἀρπεδόνη (arpedónē) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Hebrew: חוּט (ħuṭ) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Hindi: सूत (sūt) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Hindi: धागा (dhāgā) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Hindi: तागा (tāgā) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Hungarian: fonál — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Hungarian: fonal — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Icelandic: garn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Ingrian: lanka — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Irish: abhras — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Irish: snáth — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Italian: filo — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Italian: filato — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Japanese: 糸 (ito) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Japanese: 毛糸 (keito) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Kazakh: жіп (jıp) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Khmer: អំបោះ (ʼɑmbɑh) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Komi-Zyrian: шӧрт (šört) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Korean: 실 (sil) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Korean: 털실 (teolsil) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Kyrgyz: жип (jip) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Lao: ເສັ້ນດ້າຍ (sen dāi) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Lao: ດ້າຍ (dāi) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Latin: filum — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Latin: acia — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Latvian: dzija — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Lithuanian: verpalai — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Low German: Goorn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Macedonian: предиво (predivo) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Macedonian: преѓа (preǵa) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Macedonian: предено (predeno) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Middle English: yern — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Middle English: garn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Mongolian: ээрмэл (eermel) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Mongolian: утас (utas) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Norwegian Bokmål: garn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: garn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Occitan: fil — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Ojibwe: miskogaadeyaab — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Church Slavic: прѧжда (pręžda) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Old English: ġearn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Persian: کاموا (kâmvâ) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Persian: نخ (nax) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Persian: خیط (xayt) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Polish: przędza — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Polish: włóczka — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Portuguese: lã — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Portuguese: fio — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Quechua: q'aytu — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Romanian: fir — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Romanian: ață — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Russian: пря́жа (prjáža) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Serbo-Croatian: пре̏дӣво — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Serbo-Croatian: пре̏ђа — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Serbo-Croatian: prȅdīvo — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Serbo-Croatian: prȅđa — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Slovak: priadza — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Slovak: pradivo — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Slovene: preja — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Spanish: hilaza — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Spanish: estambre — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Spanish: pabilo — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Spanish: pábilo — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Swedish: garn — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Tajik: нах (nax) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Tajik: ришта (rišta) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Tajik: ресмон (resmon) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Tashelhit: ⵜⵉⵍⵎⵉ (tilmi) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Thai: เส้นด้าย (sên-dâai) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Thai: ด้าย (dâai) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Turkish: iplik — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Ottoman Turkish: ایپلك (iplik) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Turkmen: ýüplük — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Udmurt: шорт (šort) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Ukrainian: пря́жа (prjáža) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Urdu: سوت (sūt) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Uzbek: ip — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Vietnamese: sợi — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Walloon: fi — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Walloon: fyi (whool) — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Welsh: edau — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Welsh: edafedd — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Yup'ik: kistaq — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Zazaki: layêk — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Zulu: ntambo — fiber strand for knitting or weaving
  • Danish: garn — nautical
  • Finnish: lanka — nautical
  • French: corde — nautical
  • German: Tau — nautical
  • Hebrew: חוּט חֶבֶל (khut khevel) — nautical
  • Italian: cordame — nautical
  • Italian: cordaggio — nautical
  • Polish: skrętka — nautical
  • Bulgarian: небивалица (nebivalica) — story
  • Catalan: fil — story
  • Czech: historka — story
  • Czech: příběh — story
  • Finnish: tarina — story
  • Finnish: juttu — story
  • Finnish: sepustus — story
  • Galician: conto — story
  • Galician: historia — story
  • Georgian: მოთხრობა (motxroba) — story
  • Georgian: ნაამბობი (naambobi) — story
  • Hebrew: מַעֲשִׂיָּה (ma'asiya) — story
  • Italian: trama — story
  • Italian: fandonia — story
  • Japanese: ほら話 (horabanashi) — story
  • Macedonian: приказна (prikazna) — story
  • Māori: kōrero paki — story
  • Māori: kōrero whakakata — story
  • Polish: opowieść — story
  • Portuguese: trama — story
  • Romanian: basm — story
  • Romanian: poveste — story
  • Russian: ба́йка (bájka) — story
  • Russian: небыли́ца (nebylíca) — story
  • Slovak: príbeh — story
  • Spanish: cuento — story
  • Spanish: historia — story
  • Bulgarian: разказвам небивалици (razkazvam nebivalici) — To tell a story
  • Galician: contar un conto — To tell a story
  • Georgian: ამბის მოყოლა (ambis moq̇ola) — To tell a story
  • Macedonian: раска́жува (raskážuva) — To tell a story
  • Māori: kōrero paki — To tell a story
  • Russian: травим байки (travim bajki) — To tell a story