yearning

Meaning

Noun

• A wistful or melancholy longing.
• rennet (an enzyme to curdle milk in order to make cheese).

Origin

• 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 + *-janą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- ("to yearn for").
• From earlier yerning, from Middle English yernyng, erning, renning. From Old English rynning and gerunnen, geurnen, past participles of gerinnan, geirnan, respectively. Influenced by yern, iernan, metathesized forms derived from the same origin. From verbal prefix ge- + rinnan. 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-. rennet, run.