What does "yearn" mean?
A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen.
Yearn
/jɜːn/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen.
- Grammar: yearn is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: hanker, long, pine, ache.
- Useful contrasts: contentment, disregard, forgetting.
- Usage evidence: People everywhere yearn for public leaders dedicated to world peace.
How to use "yearn"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "yearn" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "yearn" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "yearn" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
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3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen.
"Gibbs now said he wasn't going to pull any punches with Gary when he knew how jealous a man could get, so he also wanted to tell him that Phil Hansen was reputed to have a yearn for attractive ladies."
Verb
- 1 To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something. also, figuratively, intransitive
"All I yearn for is a simple life."
- 2 Of milk: to curdle, especially in the cheesemaking process. Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive
- 3 have affection for; feel tenderness for wordnet
- 4 To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.; To long for something in the past with melancholy or nostalgia. also, figuratively, intransitive, specifically
"If I don’t go now, thought Charlotte, I shall have lost a chance which I shall eternally regret and yearn after."
- 5 Of cheese: to be made from curdled milk. Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 have a desire for something or someone who is not present wordnet
- 7 Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing. intransitive
"The music, yearning like a God in pain, / She scarcely heard: […]"
- 8 To curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process. Northern-England, Scotland, transitive
- 9 desire strongly or persistently wordnet
- 10 To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone. dated, intransitive
"And Joſeph made haſte: for his bowels did yerne upon his brother: and he ſought where to weepe, and hee entred into his chamber, & wept there."
- 11 To make (cheese) from curdled milk. Northern-England, Scotland, transitive
"Also his Honour the Duke will accept ane of our Dunlop cheeses, and it sall be my faut if a better was ever yearned in Lowden."
- 12 To be distressed or pained; to grieve; to mourn. intransitive, obsolete
"My father’s and my uncle Toby’s hearts yearn’d with ſympathy for the poor fellow’s diſtreſs,—[…]"
- 13 Often followed by out: to perform (music) which conveys or say (words) which express strong desire or longing. transitive
- 14 To have a strong desire or longing (for something or to do something). archaic, poetic, transitive
- 15 To cause (someone) to have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc.; also, to grieve or pain (someone). obsolete, transitive
"Well, ſhe laments Sir for it, that it would yern your heart to see it: […]"
Antonyms
Example
"People everywhere yearn for public leaders dedicated to world peace."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "yearn"?
Common synonyms include: hanker, long, pine, ache, ache, ached.
How do you use "yearn" in a sentence?
People everywhere yearn for public leaders dedicated to world peace.
How do you pronounce "yearn"?
Pronounced /jɜːn/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
The verb is derived from Middle English yernen, yern (“to express or feel desire; to desire, long or wish for; to lust after; to ask or demand for”) [and other forms], from Old English ġeornan (“to desire, yearn; to beg”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan (“to be eager for, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *girnijaną (“to desire, want”), from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) (from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to yearn for”)) + *-janą (suffix forming factitive verbs from adjectives). The noun is derived from the verb.
Etymology 2
Probably either: * a variant of earn (“to curdle, as milk”) (though this word is attested later), from Middle English erne, ernen (“to coagulate, congeal”) (chiefly South Midlands) [and other forms], a metathetic variant of rennen (“to run; to coagulate, congeal”), from Old English rinnan (“to run”) (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna (“to move quickly, run; of liquid: to flow, run; to melt”), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”); or * a back-formation from yearning (“(Scotland, archaic) rennet; calf (or other animal’s) stomach used to make rennet”).