different between yearn vs hankering

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /j??n/
• (General American) enPR: yûrn, IPA^(key): /j?n/
• Homophone: yern
• Rhymes: -??(r)n

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 ?eornan (“to desire, yearn; to beg”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan (“to be eager for, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *girnijan? (“to desire, want”), from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) (from Proto-Indo-European *??er- (“to yearn for”)) + *-jan? (suffix forming factitive verbs from adjectives).

The noun is derived from the verb.

Verb

yearn (third-person singular simple present yearns, present participle yearning, simple past and past participle yearned)

1. (intransitive, also figuratively) To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.
   1. (specifically) To long for something in the past with melancholy or nostalgia.
2. (intransitive) Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing.
3. (intransitive, dated) To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be distressed or pained; to grieve; to mourn.
5. (transitive) Often followed by out: to perform (music) which conveys or say (words) which express strong desire or longing.
6. (transitive, archaic or poetic) To have a strong desire or longing (for something or to do something).

   Synonym: (obsolete) earn

7. (transitive, obsolete) To cause (someone) to have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc.; also, to grieve or pain (someone).

   Synonym: (obsolete) earn

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

yearn (plural yearns)

1. A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen.
   • 1917 August 12, "A YEARN FOR PEACE; Pan-Germanism Denounced" Sunday Times (Perth, WA) p.1
   • 1979 Norman Mailer, The Executioner's Song

     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.

   • 2010 Frank Buchmann-Moller Someone to Watch Over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster (University of Michigan Press) ?ISBN p.57

     "After he had made a record date with us in 1935, I always had a yearn for Ben," he said years later.

   • 2014 February 13, AFP, "Why internet adultery numbers are soaring" New Zealand Herald

     "My guess, however, is that it has because there are many people who have a yearn for sex outside their relationship but wouldn't have the slightest idea about how to do it or do it safely," Prof Schwartz added.

Translations

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 rinnen (“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 *h?er- (“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”).

Verb

yearn (third-person singular simple present yearns, present participle yearning, simple past and past participle yearned)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, intransitive)
   1. Of milk: to curdle, especially in the cheesemaking process.

      Synonyms: (obsolete or regional) earn, run

   2. Of cheese: to be made from curdled milk.
2. (Northern England, Scotland, transitive)
   1. To curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process.
   2. To make (cheese) from curdled milk.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Aeryn, Arney, Neary, Neyra, Raney, Rayne, Yaren, aryne, rayne, renay, yarne

English

Verb

hankering

1. present participle of hanker
   • 2008 May 23, James Graff, "Lost: Labour's Love for Brown," Time:

     [T]here is a clear sense that Britain is hankering for a change at the top.

Noun

hankering (plural hankerings)

1. (often followed by for or after) A strong, restless desire, longing, or mental inclination.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 24:

     " […] You don't mean," Mr. Osborne continued, gathering wrath and astonishment as the thought now first came upon him; "you don't mean that he's such a d—— fool as to be still hankering after that swindling old bankrupt's daughter? […] "

1. • 2010 Aug. 12, Michael D. Lemonick, "Study: Lucy's Relatives Used Tools to Butcher Meat," Time:

     In other words, some species of human ancestor . . . not only had a hankering for meat, which scientists had not expected, but used tools to get it.

Synonyms

• craving

Translations

Anagrams

• harkening