English

Alternative forms

• yearn

Adjective

yern

1. (obsolete) Willing, eager, covetous, swift, nimble, earnest.

   He was yern to go, for nought could he be stayed.‎

   • Chaucer

     But of her song, it was as loud and yern / As any swallow sitting on a bern.

Adverb

yern

1. (obsolete) eagerly, heartily, gladly, willingly, earnestly.

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

   • A Royal Historie of the Excellent Knight Generides

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

   • The Buke of the Sevyne Sagis (a1500)

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

   • Dunbar (1508)

     He trowis that ȝoung folk I ȝern ȝeild.

   • Gavin Douglas (1513)

     The black swarm (of ants) over the fields walks yern.

Usage notes

For the adverb, the form yearnly can also be found, but is much rarer.

References

• yern in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• The Dictionary of Early English
• A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary
• The Middle English Dictionary
• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Verb

yern ‎(third-person singular simple present yerns, present participle yerning, simple past and past participle yerned)

1. Obsolete form of yearn.