longing

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒŋɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋɪŋ
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːŋɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

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Etymology 1

From Middle English longynge, langynge, langand, from Old English langiende, from Proto-Germanic *langōndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long +‎ -ing (present participle ending).

Verb

longing

1. present participle and gerund of long

Etymology 2

From Middle English longinge, langynge, from Old English longung, langung (“longing, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *langungō, gerund of Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long +‎ -ing (gerund ending).

Noun

longing (plural longings)

1. An earnest and deep, not greatly passionate, but rather melancholic desire.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 132, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     all natural lovings and longings

   • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods‎, London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 2:

     For round the valley a great desert lies through which no common traveller may come, but those whom the gods have chosen feel suddenly a great longing at heart, and crossing the mountains that divide the desert from the world, set out across it driven by the gods, […]

2. The buying of a financial instrument with the expectation that its value will rise

Synonyms

• yearning

Derived terms

• longing mark

Related terms

• long

Translations

melancholic desire

Albanian: mall (sq) m Arabic: شَوْق (ar) m (šawq) Hijazi Arabic: شوق m (šōg) Bulgarian: копнеж (bg) m (kopnež) Catalan: enyorança (ca) f, enyor (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 渴望 (zh) (kěwàng) Czech: touha (cs) f, tesknění n Dutch: verlangen (nl) n Esperanto: sopiro Finnish: kaipuu (fi), kaipaus (fi), ikävä (fi) French: nostalgie (fr) f Galician: morriña (gl) f, saudade f, soidade (gl) f, estranía f German: Sehnsucht (de) f, Sehnen (de) n, Verlangen (de) n Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐌴𐌹 f (gairnei) Greek: Ancient: πόθος m (póthos), ὄρεξις f (órexis) Hebrew: כְּמִיהָה (he) (k'mihá), כיסופים \ כִּסּוּפִים (he) (kisufim), גַּעְגּוּעַ (he) m (ga'agúa') Hungarian: vágyódás (hu) Ingrian: kaiho Irish: cumha m Italian: brama (it) f, nostalgia (it) f, desiderio (it) m, voglia (it) f, anelito (it) m, bramosia (it) f Japanese: 憧れ (ja) (akogare), 切望 (ja) (せつぼう, setsubō) Kapampangan: pamagdulap Korean: 갈망(渴望) (ko) (galmang) Latvian: ilgas f pl, ilgošanās Lithuanian: ilgesys m Macedonian: копнеж m (kopnež) Malay: rindu (ms), hasrat, kehendak, Norwegian: Bokmål: lengsel m Nynorsk: lengsel m, lengsle f Persian: سودا (fa) (sovdâ) Polish: pragnienie (pl) n, tęsknota (pl) f Portuguese: saudade (pt) f for something absent only Romanian: dor (ro) n Russian: тоска́ (ru) f (toská) Sanskrit: छन्दस् (sa) n (chandas), वनस् (sa) n (vanas) Scottish Gaelic: cianalas m, iarraidh m, fadachd m, miann m or f, ionndrainn m Spanish: añoranza (es), anhelo (es) m Swedish: längtan (sv) c Tocharian B: ñyās Turkish: özlem (tr), hasret (tr) Urdu: اشتیاق (ur) Welsh: hiraeth (cy) m Woiwurrung: (please verify) mel-both-a dak-barring Yiddish: בענקשאַפֿט (benkshaft)

See also

• desire
• miss