To hanker for something means to want it persistently, with a kind of restless longing that keeps tugging at your thoughts. When you hanker for a slice of your grandmother's apple pie, you can almost taste it, and the craving won't leave you alone. It is a strong, specific desire that stays with you. When someone says they're hankering for adventure, they feel a deep pull toward excitement and new experiences.

The word suggests more than a passing wish. You might want a snack, but you hanker for your favorite comfort food. You might like the idea of summer vacation, but you hanker for those lazy days by the lake. There's an emotional quality to hankering, a sense that you're yearning for something specific that would satisfy a particular need or desire.

People often hanker for things from their past: a sailor might hanker for the sea after years on land, or you might hanker for your old neighborhood after moving away. The word captures that mixture of desire and nostalgia, that feeling when you want something so much you can almost feel it, taste it, or remember how good it was.