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Harken vs Heed - What's the difference?

harken | heed |

As nouns the difference between harken and heed

is that harken is while heed is heathen, pagan or heed can be heath.

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

    * ----

    heed

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • Careful attention.
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
    • Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in one place.

    Usage notes

    * Often used with give, pay or take.

    Synonyms

    * (careful attention) attention, notice, observation, regard

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To mind; to regard with care; to take notice of; to attend to; to observe.
  • * Dryden
    • With pleasure Argus the musician heeds .
  • * 2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, " Life in a Russian Prison," New York Times (retrieved 24 September 2013):
    • Tolokonnikova not only tried to adjust to life in the penal colony but she even tried to heed the criticism levied at her by colony representatives during a parole hearing.
  • (archaic) To pay attention, care.