hearken

American  

[hahr-kuhn] / ˈhɑr kən /

Or harken

verb (used without object)

1. Literary. to give heed or attention to what is said; listen.

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verb (used with object)

1. Archaic. to listen to; hear.

hearken British  

/ ˈhɑːkən /

verb

1. archaic to listen to (something)

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Other Word Forms

• hearkener
  noun

Etymology

Origin of hearken

1150–1200; Middle English hercnen, Old English he ( o ) rcnian, suffixed form of assumed *heorcian; see hark, -en ¹

Explanation

Hearken is an old fashioned form of the word hark, meaning "to listen" (see hark). In the Bible, prophets and saints are always telling people to hearken to their words. While hark is still used today, hearken is pretty much obsolete — unless perhaps you happen to be an old school preacher. Hearken, like hark, can also mean to look back to something in the past, though there is often a critical sense to the word. To hearken back to an old memory or event is usually to do it in a way that may be annoying to other people or perhaps even damaging or self-defeating to the one doing the hearkening. Frequently spelled harken in the US.

Example Sentences

Reasons for moving from Seattle to South King County included the luxury of living anywhere as a remote worker, according to a Seattle Times Hearken survey of migration patterns during the pandemic.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 28, 2021

Jennifer Brandel, the CEO of a company called Hearken, which gives brilliant advice to news organizations about how to better engage their communities, sounded the alarm this week in a post on Medium.

From Salon • Oct. 30, 2020

The most arresting carol was a tune called “O Hearken Ye.”

From The New Yorker • Mar. 20, 2017

Hearken unto the Voice has many of these qualities.

From Time Magazine Archive

The words ran: Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, Beasts of every land and clime, Hearken to my joyful tidings Of the golden future time.

From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell