Craving vs longing vs yen

Question

What is the difference between long, yen, and crave, as verbs and nouns both?

Longman:

Longing - a strong feeling of wanting something or someone
  Craving - an extremely strong desire for something (listing Longing as a direct synonym)
  Yen - a strong desire

They're used as:

Long to do something / for something or someone; Have a longing for someone, something/to do something
Crave something; have a craving for something 
Yen for something, someone / to do something; have a yen for something, someone / to do something

Is seems to me craving is used mostly when you talk about food or something (or something immaterial, like attention). Both long and yen strike me as somewhat poetic.

What are the differences between them, which is used more often and in what contexts? Do any of them sound archaic / stilted / poetic?

Michael Lai · Answer

As verbs and nouns:

Longing - as you said before, mostly applied to person or people or even to do something or be somewhere
Craving - as you said before, mostly applied to objects or items, often associated with an addictive nature or behaviour
Yen - I don't hear this used much if at all, so I can't say much about this

Craving vs longing vs yen

One Answer

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question