yearn
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "yearn", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "yearn" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "yearn" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
yearn is aEnglishverb. It means: To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something. Pronounced /jɜːn/. Often confused with yen and yer.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | yearn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /jɜːn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #30,293 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for yearn is 5 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /jɜːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #30,293 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for yearn, with forms such as "eyarn", "yaern", and "yeanr". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "yen", "yer", "yuan", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 ġeornan (“to desire, yearn; to beg”) [and other forms], from Proto-West … Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is yearn, spelled Y-E-A-R-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.
- 2To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.
- 3Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing.
- 4To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone.
- 5To be distressed or pained; to grieve; to mourn.
- 6Often followed by out: to perform (music) which conveys or say (words) which express strong desire or longing.
- 7To have a strong desire or longing (for something or to do something).
- 8To cause (someone) to have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc.; also, to grieve or pain (someone).
Etymology
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 ġeornan (“to desire, yearn; to beg”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan (“to be eager for, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *girnijaną (“to desire, want”), from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) (from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to yearn for”)) + *-janą (suffix forming factitive verbs from adjectives). The noun is derived from the verb.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eyarn,yaern,yeanr,yearnn,yearrn,yeran,yyearn
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for yearn
Misspelling Variants of "yearn"
Frequency rank: #30,293 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter Y in our English index: