yearn

Meanings

Verb

• To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.
• Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing.
• To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone.
• To be distressed or pained; to grieve; to mourn.
• Often followed by out: to perform (music) which conveys or say (words) which express strong desire or longing.
• To have a strong desire or longing (for something or to do something).
• To cause (someone) to have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc.; also, to grieve or pain (someone).

Noun

• A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen.

Origin

• The noun is derived from the verb.
• Probably either:
• a variant of earn (though this word is attested later), from Middle English erne, ernen , a metathetic variant of rennen, from Old English rinnen (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna, both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er-; or
• a .