Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Yearning |
YearningAdjective1. Full of longing or unfulfilled desire; "those wistful little ads that the lovelorn place in the classifieds". Noun1. Prolonged unfulfilled desire or need. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "yearning" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
Synonyms: YearningSynonyms: wistful (adj), longing (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Desire | Longing, hankering, inkling; solicitude, anxiety; yearning, coveting; aspiration, ambition, vaulting ambition; eagerness, zeal, ardor, empressement, breathless impatience, overanxiety; impetuosity,. |
Love | Yearning, gr/eros/gr, tender passion, amour; gyneolatry; gallantry, passion, flame, devotion, fervor, enthusiasm, transport of love, rapture, enchantment, infatuation, adoration, idolatry. |
Pity | Noun: pity, compassion, commiseration; bowels, of compassion; sympathy, fellow-feeling, tenderness, yearning, forbearance, humanity, mercy, clemency; leniency; (lenity); charity, ruth, long-suffering. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Yearning |
| English words defined with "yearning": Earnful ♦ hankering ♦ longingly ♦ Wish, wishfulness, with longing ♦ yearningly, yen. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "yearning": Yearn. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "yearning": Orectic. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You call God's greatest gift ourselves, our yearning, our need to love you call it filth and sin and heresy. (Dangerous Beauty; writing credit: Jeannine Dominy) | |
Lyrics | But this yearning in the deep part of my heart for you (Ain't Nothing 'Bout You; performing artist: Brooks & Dunn) You're yearning, burning for some (Footloose; performing artist: Kenny Loggins) I've never had a yearning quite like this before (Again; performing artist: Lenny Kravitz) But underneath I think it's a lot of yearning (... On The Radio (Remember The Days); performing artist: Nelly Furtado) Forgive, the yearning burning (Because The Night; performing artist: Patti Smith) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Yearning for Love (1926) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
George Eliot | A mother's yearning feels the presence of the cherished child even in the degraded man. |
Helen Keller | I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Then water in the evening was the yearning, and food over the fire. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Rush Limbaugh | The nature of our creation is the yearning for unbridled freedom. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Yearning" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 78.22% of the time. "Yearning" is used about 202 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 78.22% | 158 | 24,965 |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 21.78% | 44 | 51,500 |
| Total | 100.00% | 202 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "yearning": a look full of yearning ♦ yearning for the past ♦ yearning for things eternal. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "yearning": heart-yearning. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
yearning | 10 |
rustic yearning | 3 |
love yearning | 3 |
love lyrics yearning | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "yearning"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | mall (commodity, goods, longing, nostalgia), dëshirë e zjarrtë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | متلهف (anxious, desirous, longing, pining, regretful, sorrowful), لهفة (eagerness, hankering, longing, regret), حنين (craving, longing, loving, nostalgia, yen), توق (desire, eagerness, hunger, longing), صبا (girlhood, youth, youthfulness), إشتياق (languishment, solicitude, yen), شوق (eagerness, interest, longing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | силно желание (ambition, anxiety, appetence, appetency, avarice, impatience, itch, lust, oestrum, oestrus), копнеж (ache, hankering, hunger, urge, yen), нежно чувство, жажда (concupiscence, eagerness, hunger, thirst, yen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 盼望 (Yearn, Yearned). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | touha (ambition, aspiration, craving, desire, hunger, longing, thirst, urge, wish, yen), toužebný (fond, lingering, wishful), roztoužený (lovesick). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | kaiho (longing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | vif, plein de tendresse, plein de désir, nostalgie (yen), désir vif, désir ardent, aspiration morale, ardent. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Sehnsucht (desire, hankering, linging, longing, nostalgia, pining). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | πόθοσ (craving, desire, longing, lust, wishfulness, wistfulness), επιθυμία (desire, longing, wish, wishfulness), λαχτάρα (craving, desire, longing), αυτόσ που επιθυμεί. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | כמ"ון (longing), כסף (long awaited), רעב (famine, famished, gluttonous, greedy, hunger, hungry, ravenous, scarcity, starvation), 'ע'ועים (ache, craving, hankering, longing, nostalgia), "שתוקקות (craving, hankering, longing, solicitude), "מית "לב (longing), כסוף (argent, craving, desire, longed for, longing, silvern), "י" (longing), כמ" (eager, how many much, several), משתוקק (raring, wishful), כמי"" (longing, pining), או" (craving, desire, longing, lust, passion), ער'" (longing, panting, yen), ערי'" (hankering, longing, panting), שוקק (bustling, desirous), משא" (desire, lifting, rising smoke), כלות (craving, longing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | sóvárgó (desirous, emulous, languorous, longing, wishful, wistful), sóvárgás (appetence, appetency, covetousness, craving, cupidity, greed, hankering, longing), epekedés (craving, languishment, languor, pining). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | kerinduan (longing), dendam (animosity, animus, dudgeon, grudge, rancour, resentment, revenge, vengeance), bercita-cita (aspire, long for, longing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | desideroso (agog, covetous, desirous, eager, hungry, longing, wishful), bramoso (acquisitive, avid, covetous, eager, greedy, hungry, longing, lustful, wishful), bramosia (anxiety, greed, longing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 思慕 (deep affection), 慕情 (longing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | しぼ (deep affection), そうぼう (dusky, features, longing, looks, pair of eyes, priests' temple quarters, shadowy), ぼじょう (longing), あ"がれ (aspiration, longing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | yeearreeagh (importunate, soliciting, wistful), mianagh (appetible, inclination, solicitous, wishful, wistful), meiyghey (being benign, softening, yearn), geearree (beseeching). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | lengsel (longing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | yearningay saudade (longing, missing, yen), enternecimento (melting), desejo ardente (hankering, hunger, thirst), anelo (like, wish), ânsia (agony, craving, death throes, death-agony, desire, eagerness, longing, nausea, thirst, want). (various references) jind (desire, envy, wish), dorinţã (accord, appetence, appetency, appetite, craving for, desideratum, desire, device, lust, mind, notion, request, requirement, run, urge, wish), alean (grief, longing, melancholy, sorrow). (various references) сильное желание (hunger, yen), тоска (Angst, boredom, drag, ennui, heartsinking, longing, melancholy, sorrow, thirst, wearies). (various references) čežnja (desirability, longing). (various references) anhelo (anxiety, appetite, craving, desire, eagerness, hankering, longing), añoranza (hankering, homesickness). (various references) längtande (hungry, longing). (various references) hasretli, hasret (craving, hankering, longing, nostalgia, sick, sighed-for), arzulu (agog, ambitious, athirst for, avid, desirous, longing, prurient, solicitous, wishful, wistful), arzu (affect, appetence, appetency, appetite, aspiration, conation, craving, desire, hankering, hunger, intentness, longing, lust, maggot, passion, prurience, pruriency, rage, request, thirst, urge, want, will, willingness, wish, yen), özlem dolu (longing), özlem (aspiration, craving, hankering, hunger, longing, missing, nostalgia, yen). (various references) туга (thirst, yearn), тоскний (wailful, wistful), нудьгуючий (sick, weariful, weary), нудьга (bore, boredom, damp, distemper, dullness, ennui, insipidity, insipidness, monotony, mope, needle, tedium, yearn), жадоба (appetite, avarice, avidity, craving, cupidity, desire, greed, yearn). (various references) thương hại (commiserative, compassionate, pitiful, pitying), sự thương hại (commiseration), sự thương cảm (sentiment), sự khát khao (desire, longingness), sự ao ước (desire, hankering), khát khao (desirous, longing). (various references) hiraeth (grief, homesickness, nostalgia), dyhead (aspiration). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | cupido. (various references) |
| Old English | 450-1100 | langung. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "yearning": yearningly, yearnings. (additional references) | |
| |
"Yearning" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bearning, kearning, yerning. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "yearning" (pronounced yer"ning) |
| 4 | -er" n i ng | adjourning, burning, churning, concerning, discerning, Durning, earning, learning, returning, spurning, turning. |
| 3 | -n i ng | abandoning, abstaining, adjoining, aligning, apportioning, ascertaining, assigning, attaining, auctioning, auditioning, awakening, awning, ballooning, banning, bargaining, battening, beckoning, beginning, bemoaning, binning, blackening, bludgeoning, boning, branning, brightening, brining, broadening, Browning, burdening, burgeoning, campaigning, caning, Canning, captioning, careening, cartooning, cautioning, chaining, championing, chaperoning, cheapening, christening, cleaning, cloning, clowning, coarsening, cocooning, coining, combining, commissioning, complaining, conditioning, condoning, confining, conning, constraining, containing, convening, Corning, couponing, crooning, crowning, cunning, cushioning, dampening, darkening, dawning, deadening, deafening, declining, decommissioning, deepening, defining, demeaning, Denning, designing, detaining, determining, dining, Dinning, disciplining, disdaining, disheartening, disillusioning, divining, donning, Downing, draining, droning, drowning, Dunning, enjoining, enlightening, entertaining, envisioning, evening, examining, explaining, fanning, fashioning, fastening, fattening, fawning, feigning, fining, finning, flattening, freshening, frightening, frowning, functioning, gaining, gardening, ginning, glistening, governing, greening, grinning, groaning, gunning, happening, hardening, hastening, headlining, heartening, heightening, honing, Horning, housecleaning, imagining, imprisoning, impugning, inning, intertwining, intervening, intoning, ironing, jawboning, jettisoning, joining, Kenning, leaning, leavening, lengthening, lessening, lightening, lightning, likening, lining, listening, loaning, loosening, machining, maddening, maintaining, malfunctioning, Manning, margining, meaning, mentioning, midmorning, mining, moaning, morning, motioning, mourning, obtaining, opening, opining, ordaining, orphaning, outlining, overrunning, overtraining, overturning, owning, panning, pardoning, partitioning, penning, pertaining, petitioning, phoning, pining, pinning, planning, poisoning, positioning, postponing, preening, preplanning, provisioning, pruning, quarantining, questioning, quickening, raining, rationing, realigning, reasoning, reassigning, reawakening, reckoning, reclining, reconditioning, redefining, redesigning, redlining, reexamining, refining, refraining, regaining, reigning, reining, rejoining, relearning, remaining, reopening, repositioning, rerunning, resigning, restraining, retaining, retraining, rezoning, ripening, ruining, running, saddening, sanctioning, scanning, screening, seasoning, sectioning, sharpening, shining, shortening, shunning, sickening, signing, sinning, siphoning, slackening, softening, spanning, spawning, spinning, staining, stationing, stiffening, stoning, straightening, straining, streamlining, strengthening, stunning, summoning, sunning, sustaining, sweetening, swooning, tanning, telephoning, thickening, thinning, threatening, tightening, toning, toughening, training, tuning, twining, underlining, undermining, underpinning, unquestioning, unreasoning, vacationing, Vining, waning, warning, weakening, weaning, whining, whitening, widening, wining, winning, worsening, yawning, zoning. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-g-i-n-n-r-y" | |
-1 letter: aginner, earning, engrain, grannie, nearing, yarning, yeaning. | |
-2 letters: anergy, earing, gainer, ginner, grainy, granny, inaner, narine, raying, reagin, regain, regina. | |
-3 letters: anger, angry, eying, garni, gayer, ginny, grain, inane, inner, rainy, range, rangy, regna, reign, renig, renin, yager, yearn. | |
-4 letters: aery, ager, agin, airn, airy, ayin, earn, eyra, gaen, gain, gane, gear, gien, girn. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-g-i-n-n-r-y" | |
+1 letter: yearnings. | |
+2 letters: blarneying, gynandries, yearningly. | |
+3 letters: androgynies, astringency, banteringly, endearingly, ingrainedly, interagency, interlaying, reanalyzing, underlaying, underpaying. | |
+4 letters: astringently, entreatingly, hearteningly, increasingly, interplaying, underplaying, unwaveringly. | |
+5 letters: encouragingly, genitourinary, glycerinating, hydrogenating, hydrogenation, integumentary, interlayering, intermarrying, overanalyzing, penetratingly, threateningly, unfalteringly, unreasoningly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Spoken | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
