yearn.
To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.
Meaning & usage
To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.
All I yearn for is a simple life.
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.
Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing.
To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone.
To be distressed or pained; to grieve; to mourn.
Often followed by out: to perform (music) which conveys or say (words) which express strong desire or longing.
To have a strong desire or longing (for something or to do something).
To cause (someone) to have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc.; also, to grieve or pain (someone).
Where this word comes from
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.
A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen.
Where this word comes from
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.
Of milk: to curdle, especially in the cheesemaking process.
Of cheese: to be made from curdled milk.
To curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process.
To make (cheese) from curdled milk.
Where this word comes from
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”).
Try it on your idea.
yearn has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA 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.