Meaning

noun prolonged unfulfilled desire or need

verb desire strongly or persistently

verb have a desire for something or someone who is not present

originPIE 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…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0