different between yearning vs yearn

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?j?n??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?j??n??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n??
• Hyphenation: yearn?ing

Etymology 1

From Middle English yerning, from Old English ?ierning, ?ierninge. Equivalent to the gerund (yearn + -ing). yearn comes from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan, from Proto-Germanic *girnijan?, from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) + *-jan?, from Proto-Indo-European *??er- (“to yearn for”).

Noun

yearning (plural yearnings)

1. A wistful or melancholy longing.

   She had a yearning to see her long-lost sister again.

Related terms

• yearn

Translations

Verb

yearning

1. Present participle and gerund of yearn.

Etymology 2

From earlier yerning, from Middle English yernyng, erning, renning. From Old English rynning and gerunnen, geurnen (“run together, coagulated, curdled”), past participles of gerinnan, geirnan, respectively. Influenced by Middle English yern (“to (cause to) coagulate or curdle”), Old English iernan (“to run, flow”), metathesized forms derived from the same origin. From verbal prefix ge- + rinnan (“to run”). First element is from Proto-West Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“with, by”); second element is from Proto-Germanic *rinnan?, from Proto-Indo-European *h?r?-néw-ti, from *h?er- (“to move”). Doublet of rennet, run.

Noun

yearning (countable and uncountable, plural yearnings)

1. (Scotland, archaic) rennet (an enzyme to curdle milk in order to make cheese).

Related terms

• yearn
• earn
• rennet

Anagrams

• renaying

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