barken
/ˈbɑː(ɹ)kən/
barken adjective: made of bark.
Adjective
barken (not comparable)
- Made of bark.
- barken knots1871, John Greenleaf Whittier, “Nauhaught, the Deacon”, in Miriam, and Other Poems
Verb
barken (third-person singular simple present barkens, present participle barkening, simple past and past participle barkened)
- To become hard or form a crust, like bark.
- The poor patient knew at once his master's tongue, and lifting up one of his eyes, the other being stiff and barkened down, said in a melancholy voice, "Ah, master, do you think I'll get better?"1828, David Macbeth Moir, The Life of Mansie Wauch
- "The best way's to let the blood barken upon the cut — that saves plasters, hinney."1908, Sir Walter Scott, Guy Mannering, or, The astrologer
- To tan or dye with bark.
- "And it wad far better become ye, Mr. Saddletree," continued his helpmate, "since ye say ye hae skeel o' the law, to try if ye can do onything for Effie Deans, puir thing, that's lying up in the tolbooth yonder, cauld, and hungry, and comfortless--A servant lass of ours, Mr. Butler, and as innocent...1818, Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Vol. 1., Illustrated
Forms of barken
| third-person singular present | barkens |
|---|---|
| present participle | barkening |
| past participle | barkened |
| past | barkened |
Origin of barken
From bark + -en.
Words that rhyme with barken
Questions about barken
- What does barken mean?
- Barken means made of bark.
- What part of speech is barken?
- Barken can be an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce barken?
- Barken is pronounced /ˈbɑː(ɹ)kən/.
Words near barken in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: barken (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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