hark
/hɑː(ɹ)k/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.81 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A whisper
Example Sentences
- "But harke, I heare the footing of a man."
- "Hark! the herald angels sing / Glory to the new born King"
- ""Hark! The thunder becomes less muttering. It is nearing us, and nearing the earth, too. Hark! One crammed crash! All the vibrations made one by nearness. Another flash. Hold.""
- "Loud voices and a renewed uproar were raised in front of the boarding-house[…] "'Tis Missis Murphy's voice," said Mrs. McCaskey, harking."
Etymology
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”).