hear
/ˈhɪɚ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.23 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To perceive (a sound, or something producing a sound) with the ear, to recognize (something) in an auditory way.
Transitive verb
verb
To be contacted by.
Example Sentences
- "I was deaf, but now I can hear."
- "I could hear them quarreling upstairs, but didn’t really listen to their argument."
- "Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda."
- "Agayne there was dissencion amonge the iewes for these sayinges, and many of them sayd: He hath the devyll, and is madde: why heare ye hym?"
- "It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. And results are all that concern me. […]”"
- "Eventually the king chose to hear her entreaties."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan Old English hīeran Middle English heren English hear From Middle English har, heoren, her, here, heren, from Old English hēran, hīeran, hīran, hȳran (“to hear”), from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną (“to hear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti (“to be sharp-eared”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + *h₂ows- (“ear”) + *-yéti (denominative suffix). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian hear, hiar, hiir, hiire (“to hear”), Saterland Frisian heere, here (“to hear”), West Frisian hearre (“to hear”), Bavarian hearn (“to hear”), Central Franconian hüre (“to hear”), Cimbrian hòrran, höarn (“to hear”), Dutch horen (“to hear”), German and Low German hören (“to hear”), Luxembourgish héieren (“to hear”), Yiddish הערן (hern, “to hear”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål høre (“to hear”), Elfdalian ära (“to hear”), Faroese hoyra (“to hear”), Icelandic heyra (“to hear”), Norwegian Nynorsk haur, høra, høre, høyra, høyre (“to hear”), Swedish höra (“to hear”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hausjan, “to hear”); also Greek ακούγω (akoúgo), ακούω (akoúo, “to hear”), Italiot Greek κούω (koúo, “to hear”), Tocharian B āks- (“to awaken”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhɪɚ/
- British English: /ˈhɪə/