yearning

noun — 2 senses

yearning

noun

US /ˈjɝnɪŋ/ · UK /ˈjɜːnɪŋ/

Etymology From Middle English yerning, from Old English ġierning, ġierninge. Equivalent to the gerund (yearn + -ing). yearn comes from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan, from Proto-Germanic *girnijaną, from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) + *-janą, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to yearn for”). By surface analysis, yearn + -ing.

1

A wistful or melancholy longing.

  • She had a yearning to see her long-lost sister again.
Related terms
yearn

yearning

noun
Etymology

PIE word *ḱóm 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 *ḱóm (“with, by”); second element is from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃r̥-néw-ti, from *h₃er- (“to move”). Doublet of rennet, run.

1

Scotland, Archaic Rennet (an enzyme to curdle milk in order to make cheese).

  • Mrs. MacClarty then took down a bottle of rennet, or yearning, as she called it.1808, Elizabeth Hamilton, Cottagers of Glenburnie:
Related terms
yearn, earn, rennet

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.