Standard Lemma guide

yearning

noun · verb · 4 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.

  • General-American: /ˈjɝnɪŋ/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈjɜːnɪŋ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)nɪŋ
  • CMU ARPABET: Y ER1 N IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A wistful or melancholy longing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • She had a yearning to see her long-lost sister again.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Rennet (an enzyme to curdle milk in order to make cheese).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Scotland, archaic, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

present participle and gerund of yearn

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

prolonged unfulfilled desire or need

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: longing, hungriness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: desire

Narrower terms: hankering, yen, pining, wishfulness, wistfulness, nostalgia, discontentment, discontent, discontentedness

History

Etymology

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 *gher- (“to yearn for”). By surface analysis, yearn + -ing.

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.

Across languages

Translations

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: gullmi — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Arabic: شَوْق (šawq) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Armenian: կարոտ (karot) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Bulgarian: копнеж (kopnež) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Bulgarian: жадуване (žaduvane) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Catalan: anhel — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 憧憬 (chōngjǐng) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Czech: stesk — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Czech: tesknění — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Czech: stýskání — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Danish: længsel — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Esperanto: dezirego — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Esperanto: sopiro — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Finnish: kaipuu — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Finnish: kaipaus — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Finnish: ikävä — wistful or melancholy longing
  • French: aspiration — wistful or melancholy longing
  • French: envie — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Georgian: წყურვილი (c̣q̇urvili) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • German: Sehnsucht — wistful or melancholy longing
  • German: großes Verlangen — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Ancient Greek: πόθος (póthos) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Ancient Greek: ὄρεξις (órexis) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Ancient Greek: ἐπιθυμία (epithumía) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Hebrew: כִּיסּוּפִים (kisufim) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Ingrian: kaiho — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Ingrian: ikävä — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Italian: brama — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Italian: nostalgia — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Italian: anelito — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Italian: voglia — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Italian: desiderio — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Italian: bramosia — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Italian: struggimento — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Japanese: 憧れ (akogare) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Kapampangan: dulap — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Korean: 동경 (donggyeong) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Latin: dēsīderium — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Māori: poreirewa — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Polish: tęsknota — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Portuguese: saudade — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Romanian: dor — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Romanian: dorință arzătoare — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Romanian: năzuință — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Russian: тя́га (tjága) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Russian: скло́нность (sklónnostʹ) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Russian: стремле́ние (stremlénije) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Russian: тоска́ (toská) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Sanskrit: छन्दस् (chandas) — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Serbo-Croatian: čežnja — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Spanish: anhelo — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Spanish: cuita — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Spanish: añoranza — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Swedish: längtan — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Tocharian B: ñyās — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Turkish: hasret — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Turkish: özlem — wistful or melancholy longing
  • Turkish: iştiyak — wistful or melancholy longing
Real reading context

yearning in complete knowledge articles