Word
yearn
US/ˈjɝn/
UK/jˈɜːn/
Definition
v. to feel a very strong desire for something. You use this when you want something so much that it feels like a deep ache in your heart.
v. to feel or express a strong, often painful longing for something. Intransitive — requires a prepositional phrase to indicate the object of the desire.
Examples
“She yearns for a quiet life in the countryside.”
“After years of working in the city, he finally yearns for the peace and space of a small coastal village.”
“The protagonist's soul yearns for a connection to his distant ancestors, a longing that drives his every decision and fills his dreams with visions of a forgotten homeland.”
Examples
simple
“She yearns for a quiet life in the countryside.”
contextual
“After years of working in the city, he finally yearns for the peace and space of a small coastal village.”
complex
“The protagonist's soul yearns for a connection to his distant ancestors, a longing that drives his every decision and fills his dreams with visions of a forgotten homeland.”
Real-World Examples
“It’s a cast of mind shared by many in his party who still yearn for the 11-plus , which consigned a random number of children to failure before they’d hardly begun.” “It is the desire for an Other we yearn to possess, for a life force we can never truly claim as our own.” Etymology
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.
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”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
VERB
NOUN
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.C1 AdvancedIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.7.0–8.0TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 5.0–5.595–113TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.945–990
- Frequency
- Occasional
- Level
- C1 · Advanced
- Updated
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QR code
englishreference.com/q/yearn