Word.ws English Dictionary

hark

/hɑː(ɹ)k/

hark verb: to listen attentively.

Verb

hark (third-person singular simple present harks, present participle harking, simple past and past participle harked)

  1. (archaic, imperative, often) To listen attentively.
    • But harke, I heare the footing of a man.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • Hark! the herald angels sing / Glory to the new born King1739, Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, “Hymn for Christmas-Day”, in Hymns and Sacred Poems

Noun

hark (plural harks)

  1. (Scots) A whisper

hark meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

hark in Tamil

to listen attentively
கவனி kavaṉi, கேள் kēḷ

hark in Urdu

کان دھرو

hark in Malayalam

കേൾക്കുക, ശ്രദ്ധിക്കുക

hark in Kannada

ಕೇಳು, ಕಿವಿಗೊಡು, ಆಲಿಸು, ಗಮನವಿಟ್ಟು ಕೇಳು

Examples of hark in a sentence

  • "The building's design harks back to traditional station architecture," says HS2 Project Client Ailsa Waygood.
  • Zecond thing: what 'st think volk 'ud want to bide and hark to such vlother vor!
  • Today Coke exists as nostalgic brand, harking back to the day when the drink enjoyed its peak iconic stature.

All 10 example sentences with hark

Forms of hark

Verb
third-person singular presentharks
present participleharking
past participleharked
pastharked
alternative form (obsolete)heark
Noun
pluralharks

Plural of hark: harks

Origin of hark

From Middle English herken, herkien, from Old English *hercian, *heorcian, *hiercian, from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀikōn, *hauʀukōn, derived ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną (“to hear”) + formative/intensive -k (see also the related hīeran, whence English hear). Equivalent to hear + -k. Cognate with Scots herk (“to hark”), North Frisian harke (“to hark”), West Frisian harkje (“to listen”), obsolete Dutch horken (“to hark, listen to”), Middle Low German horken (“to hark”), German horchen (“to hark, harken to”).

Words formed from hark

Phrases with hark

Words that rhyme with hark

28 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about hark

What does hark mean?
Hark means to listen attentively.
What is hark in Tamil?
Hark in Tamil is கவனி (kavaṉi), கேள் (kēḷ). See Hark meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is hark?
Hark can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce hark?
Hark is pronounced /hɑː(ɹ)k/.
What is the past tense of hark?
The past tense of hark is harked.

Words near hark in the dictionary

  1. Hariti
  2. harizzment
  3. Harjo
  4. Harjos
  5. Harju County
  6. hark
  7. hark back
  8. hark backs
  9. hark who's talking
  10. hark-back
  11. hark-backs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hark (page history and authors); hark (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hark (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hark (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hark.wav.

Cite this entry: “hark.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hark. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.