hark

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /hɑːrk/ UK /hɑːk/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to listen attentively; used to call attention to a sound

Hark, the bells are ringing across the valley.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to listen attentively; used... listen hearken attend heed mark

Opposites

ignore

Word family

Related forms hearken hear

Etymology

From Middle English herken, harken, from Old English heorcnian ('to listen'), related to hieran ('to hear'), from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną.

heorcnian Old English *hauzijaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# hark

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /hɑːrk/
**IPA (UK):** /hɑːk/

## Meanings
1. to listen attentively; used to call attention to a sound

## Examples
- Hark, the bells are ringing across the valley.

## Synonyms
- listen
- hearken
- attend
- heed
- mark

## Antonyms
- ignore

## Related Forms
- hearken
- hear

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: heorcnian
- Root: *hauzijaną

## Etymology
From Middle English herken, harken, from Old English heorcnian ('to listen'), related to hieran ('to hear'), from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną.

## AI Etymology
hark comes from Middle English herken, harken, from Old English heorcnian ('to listen'), related to hieran ('to hear'), from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną. The history explains the modern form through the named earlier word or formation, without requiring a separate speculative ancestry. In present English, the verb sense is "to listen attentively; used to call attention to a sound", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as hearken and hear. Its semantic neighborhood includes listen, hearken, attend, and heed, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Old English heorcnian and Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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