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Harken vs Hearken - What's the difference?

harken | hearken | Alternative forms |

Hearken is a alternative form of harken.



As verbs the difference between harken and hearken

is that harken is an alternative spelling of lang=en ‘to listen, hear, regard’, more common form in the US while hearken is to listen; to attend or give heed to what is uttered; to hear with attention, obedience, or compliance.

harken

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • ‘to listen, hear, regard’, more common form in the US.
  • * 1833 :
    • Œnone Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die.
  • * 1883:
    • We were not many minutes on the road, though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of each other and harken . But there was no unusual sound...
  • * 1942 ,
    • ... whom he had revered and harkened to and loved and lost and grieved:
  • (figuratively, US) To hark back, to return or revert (to a subject etc.), to allude to, to evoke, to long or pine for (a past event or era).
  • * 1994 , David Coogan, Electronic Writing Centers: Computing the Field of Composition , page 4
    • The emerging consensus that writing was merely transcribed speech, then, harkened back to the pre-disciplinary, liberal arts college
  • * 2005 , Carol Padden, Tom L. Humphries, Inside Deaf Culture , page 48
    • Bell argued that the manual approach was "backwards," and harkened to a primitive age where humans used gesture and pantomime.

    Usage notes

    The bare form harken has been used since the 1980s, though some authorities frown upon this and prefer the traditional form hark back.

    References

    * * Merriam-Webster’s dictionary of English usage, 1995, p. 497 * “ Hark/Hearken”, Paul Brians, Common Errors in English Usage, (2nd Edition, November, 2008)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    hearken

    English

    Alternative forms

    * harken

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To listen; to attend or give heed to what is uttered; to hear with attention, obedience, or compliance.
  • * Dryden
    • The Furies hearken , and their snakes uncurl.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy
    • Hearken , O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you.
  • (poetic) To hear by listening.
  • * Spenser
    • [She] hearkened now and then / Some little whispering and soft groaning sound.
  • To hear with attention; to regard.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The King of Naples hearkens my brother's suit.
  • (obsolete) To enquire; to seek information.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Hearken after their offense.

    Quotations

    * , Genesis 3:17 *: And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; * 1833 : , Œnone *: Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die. * 1809-49 : The Tell-Tale Heart, *: How then am I mad? Hearken ! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole story.

    References

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