yern

Y4E1R1N1
UK/jəːn/

adverb

eagerly, heartily, gladly, willingly, earnestly.

“I am not afraid of death, and when my time comes I'll go yern.”

OriginMiddle English yern ← Old English ġeorn ← Proto-West Germanic *gern →
Scrabble 7
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

adverb

alternative yearn

  1. obsoleteeagerly, heartily, gladly, willingly, earnestly.

    I am not afraid of death, and when my time comes I'll go yern.

    3 more examples

    Who was so hardie and so stern? Tel me now, I pray you yern

    1865, Frederick James Furnivall, A Royal Historie of the Excellent Knight Generides

    All the people cried yernː God Master, now defend thy bairn.

    c. 1515, unknown, The Buke of the Sevyne Sagis

    The black swarm ower the fields walks yerne

    1513, Gavin Douglas, The Eneados
verbyern (third-person singular simple present yerns, present participle yerning, simple past and past participle yerned)

present singular third person yerns · participle present yerning · participle past yerned · past yerned · alternative yearn

  1. obsoleteObsolete form of yearn.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*gernaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic*gern
  3. Old Englishġeorn“eager”
  4. Middle Englishyern“willing, eager”
  5. Englishyern

From Middle English yern (“willing, eager”), from Old English ġeorn (“eager”), from Proto-West Germanic *gern, from Proto-Germanic *gernaz. Cognate with Danish gerne (“gladly”), Dutch gaarne (“with pleasure, gladly”), German gern (“willingly, gladly”), Icelandic gjarn (“willing, keen, eager”), Icelandic gjarna (“willingly, readily, gladdly”), Swedish gärna (“willingly, gladly”). See also yearnful and yearnfully.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with yern

returnlearnconcernearnburnsternkernfernurnBernadjourndiscernchurnternernnocturneyearnAuvergneupturnpernderngernhernastern
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

yearnyearn

Anagrams

NYerrenyErynNeryErny
Cite this entry
APA

yern. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yern

MLA

“yern.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yern. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yern,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yern.

Source: yern on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.