overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

longing.

An earnest and deep, not greatly passionate, but rather melancholic desire.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈlɒŋɪŋ/UK/ˈlɔːŋɪŋ/US/lɑŋɪŋ/cot-caught-merger
  1. An earnest and deep, not greatly passionate, but rather melancholic desire.

  2. The buying of a financial instrument with the expectation that its value will rise.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English longinge, langynge, from Old English longung, langung (“longing, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *langungō, gerund of Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long + -ing (gerund ending).

verb/ˈlɒŋɪŋ/UK/ˈlɔːŋɪŋ/US/lɑŋɪŋ/cot-caught-merger
  1. present participle and gerund of long

    form-of · gerund · participle · present
Where this word comes from

From Middle English longynge, langynge, langand, from Old English langiende, from Proto-Germanic *langōndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long + -ing (present participle ending).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

longing has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

longing studiolonging workshello, longing

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.