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.

---

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

---

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

See Examples For:

hark harks harked harking

The peculiar details in his contested fortune hark back to another strange will from 50 years ago, involving yet another Las Vegas-based entrepreneur, known more now for his oddities than his accomplishments: Howard Hughes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

Indisputably, there are signs—some of which hark back to the dot-com era—that it is.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

The 11 songs on the album bridge storytelling with classic country and folk sounds that hark back to the ‘70s, a la songs like the Eagles’ “Wasted Time.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025

When built, it was intended as a "hark back to the history of bathing machines in Margate", which were used frequently in the town during Victorian times.

From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2025

Further west, he and Fa often camped in summer to gather lime hark for rope-making; but this part looked unfamiliar.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

That point harks back to a similar, unfulfilled promise by his father, who instead oversaw soaring deforestation rates.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Xcimer is working on a gas-laser fusion system that in many ways harks back to a Cold War-era technology program.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

The battle harks back to the January 2025 Eaton fire which spread toxic ash over swaths of Altadena and Pasadena.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026

Taking place in much drier conditions than the first night in Goyang Stadium, the first London date is largely focused on the Arirang album, which harks back to the band's hip-hop roots.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

He painted it from the heart: the scene harks back to his time in the Borinage, and it reflects his attachment to his own family and to the idea of family, to the ideal family.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

The energy summit harked back to a time in the once-prosperous South American nation when oil was the engine of growth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

The message harked back to the old U.S. policy of further entwining the American and Chinese economies, breaking with an approach pioneered during the first Trump administration to untangle business ties, largely for national-security reasons.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

And what a contrast it was as the 22-year-old Northern Ireland right-back was the shining symbol of a Liverpool display that harked back to their Premier League title-winning best as Real Madrid were swept aside.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2025

He recalls watching Nacua play at BYU, where he displayed tenacity, physicality and fearlessness that harked to Smith-Schuster, the former USC star who has played eight NFL seasons.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025

Now the rebels harked to the proceedings; we saw them watching from the shore, though they could not hear.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

The selection for “Rent” that Goldsberry offered had me similarly harking back to more memorable theatrical encounters with the music.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026

Some of it may well be people harking back to the past, one they felt was more attractive than what F1 serves up today.

From BBC ● May 19, 2026

The two leaders talked up the strength of the U.S.-China relationship, harking back to historical connections between the two nations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

The harking back to the Civil War isn’t in vain.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2025

He also enjoyed the singularly felicitous experience of harking back upon some of his earliest memories. 

From The Life of George Borrow by Clement K. Shorter

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---