hark

American  

[hahrk] / hɑrk /

verb (used without object)

harks, present (3rd person singular) harked, past participle, past harking present participle

1. to listen attentively; hearken.

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verb (used with object)

harks, present (3rd person singular) harked, past participle, past harking present participle

1. Archaic. to listen to; hear.

noun

1. a hunter's shout to hounds, as to encourage them in following the scent.

verb phrase

1. hark back

   1. (of hounds) to return along the course in order to regain a lost scent.

   2. to return to a previous subject or point; revert.

      He kept harking back to his early days in vaudeville.

hark British  

/ hɑːk /

verb

1. (intr; usually imperative) to listen; pay attention

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unharked
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• harking
  present
• harked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hark
  simple
• harks
  simple
• have harked
  perfect
• has harked
  perfect
• am harking
  progressive
• are harking
  progressive
• is harking
  progressive
• have been harking
  perfect progressive
• has been harking
  perfect progressive

Past

• harked
  simple
• had harked
  perfect
• was harking
  progressive
• were harking
  progressive
• had been harking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hark
  simple
• will have harked
  perfect
• will be harking
  progressive
• will have been harking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of hark

1175–1225; Middle English herken, earlier herkien, Old English *heorcian; cognate with Old Frisian herkia, harkia; akin to Middle Dutch harken, Middle High German, German horchen. See hearken, hear

Explanation

Hark! This is an old fashioned word for “listen up!” Hark also means “to look back.” If you ride a horse to school, your behavior harks back to the days before cars. Hark is an order to pay attention and listen carefully, but it also means to go back to or remember something from the past. Hark has an interesting origin: it comes from the term "to hark back," which was when hunting dogs retraced the scent of their prey when they had lost it to try to pick it up again. Using hark these days sounds very literary and old fashioned. It harks back to ye olde times.

Example Sentences

New York City-based Hark Audio uses AI to identify, clip and collect memorable moments from the world’s half a million or so active podcasts.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

“When I think about the landscape of L.A. housing availability, we need every option available,” Jennifer Hark Dietz, the CEO of PATH, told me.

From Slate • Jul. 31, 2025

Hark Dietz said her organization is talking to city and county officials about other sources of funding to keep those facilities running over the next six months.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2024

Whites are tricky, though Jake Busching, winemaker at Hark Vineyards in Virginia, swears by petit manseng for its combination of fruit and acid.

From Washington Post • Feb. 9, 2023

‘I don’t like this great big tree. I don’t trust it. Hark at it singing about sleep now! This won’t do at all!’

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien