• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹeɪ.vɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -eɪvɪŋ

From Middle English cravinge, from Old English crafing (“claim, demand”); equivalent to crave +‎ -ing.

craving (plural cravings)

1. A strong desire; yearning.
   • 1838, [Edgar Allan Poe], chapter XIII, in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.[…], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers,[…], →OCLC, pages 122–123:

     [W]e contrived to satisfy the cravings of thirst by suffering the shirts to become saturated, and then wringing them so as to let the grateful fluid trickle into our mouths.

   • 2007, Christine Locher, The Cult of Cuteness in Japanese Youth Culture, page 13:

     The craving for cuteness is a psychological phenomenon that originally had the purpose of increasing the chances of a baby to survive […]

   • 2016, Melissa Hartwig, Food Freedom Forever:

     The list of potential victories you could achieve with your reset is long, and it includes a fafillion wins that have nothing to do with the scale: Fewer blemishes. Thicker hair. Less join pain. Reduced cravings. No midday energy slump.

• Jamaican Creole: craven

From crave.

craving

1. present participle and gerund of crave

• “craving”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “craving”, in The Century Dictionary[…], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• carving