hark

American  

[hahrk] / hɑrk /

verb (used without object)

1. to listen attentively; hearken.

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verb (used with object)

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

• unharked adjective

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

The commuters in “Le Métro” hark back to his early streetcar scenes but now there’s an air of mystery to the straphangers, with the central figure’s face obscured and bisected by a subway pole.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025

Kendrick - and his beef with Drake - also hark back to the origins of hip-hop in another way.

From BBC • Feb. 14, 2025

When I think of them, I hark them to the Harlem Renaissance versions of “Dreamgirls.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2024

The rhythmic underpinnings hark back to the Police; the lyrics recognize passing years but reaffirm affection: “The way you look at me I swear my heart hits rewind,” Stefani sings.

From New York Times • Feb. 9, 2024

Sometimes in public, hearing a stranger, I’d hark back to my past.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez