yearn — to have a strong feeling of wishing for something, especially something difficult to get
Part of speech: VERB
Definition: to have a strong feeling of wishing for something, especially something difficult to get
Pronunciation (IPA): /jɜːrn/
Example Sentences
- The office worker yearns for Friday afternoon like a cat yearns for tuna.
- Students yearn for the day when homework will do itself.
- After months abroad, he yearned to taste his grandmother's cooking again.
yearn
VERB[/jɜːrn/]
to have a strong feeling of wishing for something, especially something difficult to get

Standing in the freezing snow, the hungry boy could only yearn for the warm bread inside the bakery window.

YEAR(year) + N(night) — for a whole YEAR, every Night, the lonely soldier continued to yearn for his family.

As the hot desert sun continued to burn, for a single drop of water he began to yearn.
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🎤Pronunciation
🌳Etymology
Origin
From Old English 'geornian' meaning 'to desire or long for,' derived from Proto-Germanic roots related to eagerness and desire. The word has cognates in other Germanic languages like Old High German 'girren.'
Breakdown
yearn: From Old English 'geornian' (to desire) + -n (verb infinitive marker) = yearn (to long for something intensely)
🎵Rhyme
🔗Collocations
📝Examples
“The office worker yearns for Friday afternoon like a cat yearns for tuna.”
“Students yearn for the day when homework will do itself.”
“After months abroad, he yearned to taste his grandmother's cooking again.”
“She yearns for a world where calories don't count and pizza is a vegetable.”
📚Related Words
Synonyms
Antonyms
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