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

Fatih Akin directs a stirring, thoughtful drama—based on the memories of Hark Bohm—about a German child on a remote North Sea island in 1945.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

“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

“We would need to have the capital and operation funds to ensure the building operates at a level of habitability,” Hark Dietz said.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2023

Samsung has also named heads of North American offices for both the SET and DS divisions, as well as a new CFO, Hark Kyu Park.

From The Verge • Dec. 6, 2021

‘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