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yearning

noun

  1. deep and aching desire for someone or something
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Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈjɝnɪŋ/ / /ˈjɜːnɪŋ/

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. 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.

verb

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. present participle and gerund of yearn

    I've got this burning, yearning, yearning / Feeling inside me / Ooh, deep inside me / And it hurts so bad