hear
See also: Hear
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- heare (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English heren, from Old English hīeran (“to hear”), from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną (“to hear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti (“to be sharp-eared”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + *h₂ows- (“ear”) + *-yéti (denominative suffix).
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian heere (“to hear”), West Frisian hearre (“to hear”), Dutch horen (“to hear”), German hören (“to hear”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål høre (“to hear”), Norwegian Nynorsk høyra (“to hear”), Icelandic heyra (“to hear”), Ancient Greek ἀκούω (akoúō, “I hear”).
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /hɪə(ɹ)/
Audio (UK) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /hɪɚ/
Audio (US) (file) - (Wales) IPA(key): /hjɜː/
- Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
- Homophones: here, hir
VerbEdit
hear (third-person singular simple present hears, present participle hearing, simple past and past participle heard)
- (intransitive, stative) To perceive sounds through the ear. [from 10th c.]
- I was deaf, and now I can hear.
- (transitive, stative) To perceive (a sound, or something producing a sound) with the ear, to recognize (something) in an auditory way. [from 10th c.]
- I heard a sound from outside the window.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
- (transitive) To exercise this faculty intentionally; to listen to. [from 10th c.]
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John ]:
- Agayne there was dissencion amonge the iewes for these sayinges, and many of them sayd: He hath the devyll, and is madde: why heare ye hym?
- 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:
- It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. And results are all that concern me. […]”
- (transitive) To listen favourably to; to grant (a request etc.). [from 10th c.]
- Eventually the king chose to hear her entreaties.
- (transitive) To receive information about; to come to learn of. [from 10th c.]
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
- Adam, soon as he heard / The fatal Trespass don by Eve, amaz'd, / Astonied stood and Blank […]
- (with from) To be contacted by.
- 2009, Elsa T. Aguries, The Pearl Within, →ISBN, page 141:
- When I don't hear from you, My days feel long and lonely.
- 2012, Art Wiederhold & Charles Sutphen, From the Depths of Evil, →ISBN, page 343:
- They're ten hours overdue. Have you heard from any of them since they left Nineveh?
- 2012, James Meredith, A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America, →ISBN:
- She left and I never heard from her again.
- (transitive, law) To listen to (a person, case) in a court of law; to try. [from 12th c.]
- Your case will be heard at the end of the month.
- (transitive, informal) To sympathize with; to understand the feelings or opinion of.
- You're tired of all the ads on TV? I hear ya.
- (transitive, Greek philosophy) To study under.
- 1656, Thomas Stanley, The History of Philosophy. The Eighth Part, Containing the Stoick Philosophers, page 15:
- SPHÆRUS was of Bosphorus, he first heard Zeno, then Cleanthes, and having made a sufficient progresse in learning, went to Alexandria to Ptolomy Philopater […]
- 1990, Henry J. Blumenthal, “Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?”, in Richard Sorabji, editor, Aristotle Transformed: The Ancient Commentators and Their Influence, 2nd edition, published 2016, →ISBN, pages 130–31:
- Ammonius, the teacher of both Simplicius and Philoponus, tells us how Julian gave a ruling […] in favor of Maximus, who had heard Iamblichus, and followed him and Porphyry (in An. Pr. 31,15–22).
- 2018, “Introduction: The Old Academy to Cicero”, in Harold Tarrant et al., editors, Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity, →ISBN, pages 24–25:
- Charmadas, never actually Head of School but a prominent Academic who had himself heard Carneades, was prepared to teach Plato’s Gorgias […]
Usage notesEdit
- This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
Derived termsEdit
- another county heard from
- behear
- children should be seen and not heard
- could hear a pin drop
- forehear
- hard of hearing
- hear both sides
- hear from
- hear hear
- hear of
- hear on the grapevine
- hear oneself think
- hear out
- hear tell
- hear the end of it
- hear the grass grow
- hear the last of
- hear things
- hear through the grapevine
- hear voices
- hear ye
- hearing aid
- hearsay
- hearsome
- I can't hear you over the sound of
- I've never heard it called that before
- last I heard
- let's hear it for someone
- long time no hear
- mishear
- now hear this
- one could hear a pin drop
- outhear
- overhear
- rehear
- shot heard round the world
- shot heard 'round the world
- so quiet one can hear a pin drop
- so quiet one could hear a pin drop
- so quiet you can hear a pin drop
- the last I heard
- unhear
- you hear me
TranslationsEdit
to perceive with the ear
|
to listen
to perceive sounds through the ear
|
To receive information about; to come to learn of
|
See alsoEdit
InterjectionEdit
hear
- you hear me
- 1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:
- Y'all come back now, hear?
ReferencesEdit
- hear in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- hear in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
AnagramsEdit
CimbrianEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- hèere (Sette Comuni)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle High German herre, from Old High German hērro, hēriro, comparative form of hēr (“gray-haired, noble, venerable”). Cognate with German Herr; see there for more.
NounEdit
hear m
ReferencesEdit
- Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
West FrisianEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old Frisian hār (“honorable”).
NounEdit
hear c (plural hearen, diminutive hearke)
- lord
- (Christianity) the Lord, God
- Wêr de Geast fan de Hear is, der is frijheid. ― Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- nobleman
- gentleman
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “hear (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
Etymology 2Edit
From Old Frisian here, from Proto-West Germanic *hari.
NounEdit
hear c (plural hearen)
- army
- Yn âlde tiden wie Frjentsjer bilegere fan in machtich hear. ― In days gone by, Franeker was besieged by a mighty army.
- crowd
Further readingEdit
- “hear (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011