informal <非正式>
in sing.
- a longing or yearning渴望, 热望：
with infinitive she always had a yen to be a writer.她总渴望成为一名作家。
(yenned, yenning)no obj.
- feel a longing or yearning渴望, 热望：
it's no use yenning for the old simplicities.
渴求往日的简朴自然没什么用。
词源
late 19th cent. （in the sense 'craving' (of a drug addict) for a drug）： from Chinese yǎn.