# hear
## English
### Alternative forms

* heare (obsolete)
* 'ear (pronunciation spelling)

### Etymology

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).
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”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /hɪə/
** Audio (UK):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /hɪəɹ/
** Audio (US):(file)
* (Canada) IPA: [hiːɹ]
* (Wales) IPA: /hjɜː/
* (New Zealand) IPA: /hiə/
* (Scotland) IPA: /hiːɹ/
* (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA: /hɛː/
* Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
* Homophones: here, hir; hair, hare (both cheer–chair merger)

### Verb

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 notes

* This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

#### Derived terms

* 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
* hearing aid
* hear me out
* hear of
* hear oneself think
* hear on the grapevine
* hear out
* hearsay
* hearsome
* hear tell
* hear the end of it
* hear the grass grow
* hear the last of
* hear things
* hear-through
* hear through the grapevine
* hear voices
* hear what I'm saying
* hear ye
* I can't hear you over the sound of
* I hear you say
* 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
* now I've heard everything
* 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
* there are none so deaf as those who will not hear
* unhear
* you hear me
* you hear what I'm saying

#### Translations

Abkhaz: аҳара (aḥara)
Acehnese: deungo
Afar: oobbe
Afrikaans: hoor (af)
Akan: te
Aklanon: dungog
Albanian: dëgjon , ni(gheg)
Gheg: ni
Ambonese Malay: dangar
Amharic: ሰማ (säma)
Arabic: سَمِعَ (ar) (samiʕa)
Egyptian Arabic: سمع (simiʕ)
Moroccan Arabic: سْمع (sməʕ)
Armenian: լսել (hy) (lsel)
Aromanian: avdu (roa-rup)
Assamese: শুন (xun)
Asturian: oyer
Atikamekw: petam
Azerbaijani: eşitmək (az)
Bashkir: ишетеү (işetew)
Basque: entzun
Belarusian: чуць impf (čucʹ), учу́ць pf (učúcʹ), ўчуць pf (ŭčucʹ)
Belizean Creole: hyaa
Bengali: শোনা (bn) (śōna)
Bhojpuri: सुनल (sunal)
Breton: kleved (br)
Brunei Malay: dangar
Bulgarian: чу́вам (bg) impf (čúvam)
Burmese: ကြား (my) (kra:)
Catalan: sentir (ca), oir (ca)
Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵙⵍⵍ (sll)
Chechen: хаза (xaza)
Cherokee: ᎠᏛᎩᎠ (advgia)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 聽到 / 听到 (teng$^1$ dou$^{3-2}$)
Hokkien: 聽著 / 听着 (thiaⁿ-tio̍h)
Mandarin: 聽見 / 听见 (zh) (tīngjiàn)
Classical Nahuatl: caqui
Crimean Tatar: eşitmek, tuymaq
Czech: slyšet (cs) impf
Danish: høre (da)
Dutch: horen (nl)
Egyptian: (sḏm)
Enga: singi
Esperanto: aŭdi (eo)
Estonian: kuulma (et)
Evenki: до̄лды̄мӣ (dōldīmī)
Faroese: hoyra (fo)
Fataluku: vari
Finnish: kuulla (fi)
French: entendre (fr)
Old French: entendre
Friulian: sintî, uldî
Galician: oír (gl), ouvir (gl), sentir (gl)
Ge'ez: ሰምዐ (sämʿä)
Georgian: სმენა (smena), გაგონება (gagoneba)
German: hören (de)
Alemannic German: ghööre
Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hausjan)
Greek: ακούω (el) (akoúo)
Ancient: ἀκούω (akoúō); (poetic) κλύω (klúō), ἀΐω (aḯō)
Guaraní: hendu
Hawaiian: lohe
Hebrew: שָׁמַע (he) (shamá')
Higaonon: paliman
Hindi: सुनना (hi) (sunnā)
Hungarian: hall (hu)
Ibanag: ginna
Icelandic: heyra (is)
Ido: audar (io)
Indonesian: dengar (id)
Ingush: хаза (xaza)
Interlingua: audir
Irish: clois, cluin, airigh
Isnag: xina
Istro-Romanian: avzi
Italian: sentire (it), udire (it)
Japanese: 聞く (ja) (きく, kiku), 伺う (ja) (うかがう, ukagau) (humble)
Kambera: rongu (with inanimate object), rongung (with animate objects)
Kannada: ಕೇಳು (kn) (kēḷu)
Kashmiri: بوزُن (bōzun)
Kashubian: czëc
Kazakh: есту (kk) (estu)
Khmer: ឮ (km) (lɨɨ), ស្ដាប់ឮ (sdap lɨɨ)
Korean: 듣다 (ko) (deutda)
Kumyk: эшитмек (eşitmek)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: بیستن (bîstin)
Northern Kurdish: bîstin (ku), guh lê bûn (ku)
Kyrgyz: угуу (ky) (uguu)
Lao: ໄດ້ຍິນ (dai nyin)
Latgalian: dzierdēt, izdzierst
Latin: audio (la)
Latvian: dzirdēt (lv)
Lithuanian: girdėti (lt)
Livonian: kūlõ
Luxembourgish: héieren (lb)
Macedonian: слуша impf (sluša), слушне pf (slušne), чуе pf (čue)
Makasae: wali
Malay: dengar (ms)
Malayalam: കേൾക്കുക (ml) (kēḷkkuka)
Maltese: sama’
Manchu: ᡩᠣᠨᠵᡳᠮᠪᡳ (donjimbi)
Mansaka: dungug
Manx: clin
Maori: oko (mi), rongo, hakiri (Indistinctly)
Marathi: ऐकणे (aikṇe)
Mariupol Greek: грику́ (hrikú)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: дуулах (mn) (duulax), сонсох (mn) (sonsox)
Mwani: kusikira
Nahuatl: caqui (nah)
Nanai: долди- (dolʒi-)
Ndzwani Comorian: ukia
Norman: ouï
North Frisian:
Föhr: hiar
Mooring and Hallig: hiire
Norwegian:
Bokmål: høre (no)
Nynorsk: høyra
Occitan: ausir (oc)
Odia: ଶୁଣିବା (or) (śuṇibā)
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: слꙑшати impf (slyšati)
Old East Slavic: слꙑшати impf (slyšati)
Old English: ġehīeran
Old Norse: hǫra (East), heyra (West)
Old Saxon: horian
Oromo: dhaga'uu
Pannonian Rusyn: чуц impf (čuc), учуц pf (učuc)
Pashto: اورول (awrawəl)
Pennsylvania German: heere
Persian:
Iranian Persian: شِنیدَن (šenidan), شُنیدَن (šonidan)
Pipil: kaki, caqui
Polabian: slåisot
Polish: słyszeć (pl) impf, usłyszeć (pl) pf
Portuguese: ouvir (pt)
Quechua: uyariy, uyay, uyarii, wiyai
Rapa Nui: ngaro'a
Rendille: dag
Romanian: auzi (ro)
Romansch: udir
Russian: слы́шать (ru) impf (slýšatʹ), услы́шать (ru) pf (uslýšatʹ)
S'gaw Karen: နၢ်ဟူ (na̱ hoo)
Saho: oobbe
Sanskrit: श्रु (sa) (śru), शृणोति (sa) (śṛṇoti)
Sardinian: intèndhere, intendi, intèndiri, intènnere
Scottish Gaelic: cluinn
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: чу̏ти impf, слу̏шати impf
Roman: čȕti (sh) impf, slȕšati (sh) impf
Shan: ငိၼ် (ngǐn), ယိၼ်း (shn) (yín) (dialectal), ၺိၼ် (nyǐn) (dialectal)
Sicilian: sintiri (scn), sèntiri (scn)
Sinhalese: ඇසෙනවා (æsenawā)
Slovak: čuť impf, počuť
Slovene: slišati (sl) impf
Somali: maqlid
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: słyšaś impf
Upper Sorbian: słyšeć impf
Spanish: oír (es)
Sranan Tongo: arki
Swedish: höra (sv)
Sylheti: ꠢꠥꠘꠣ (huna)
Tagalog: marinig, makarinig
Tahitian: faʻaroʻo
Tajik: шунидан (tg) (šunidan)
Tamil: கேள் (ta) (kēḷ)
Tatar: ишетергә (tt) (işetergä)
Tausug: dungug
Telugu: విను (te) (vinu)
Tetum: rona
Thai: ได้ยิน (th) (dâi-yin)
Tibetan: ཁོ (kho), གསན (gsan) (honorific)
Tocharian B: klyaus-
Tok Pisin: harim
Turkish: işitmek (tr), duymak (tr)
Turkmen: eşitmek
Tuvan: дыңнаар (dıñnaar), дыңнап каар (dıñnap kaar)
Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎎𐎓 (šmʿ)
Ukrainian: чу́ти (uk) impf (čúty), почу́ти (počúty)
Urdu: سُنْنا (sunnā)
Uyghur: ئاڭلىماق (anglimaq), ئىشىتمەك (ishitmek)
Uzbek: eshitmoq (uz), eshitib qolmoq
Venetan: sentir
Vietnamese: nghe (vi)
Walloon: ôre (wa), oyî (wa), etinde (wa)
Welsh: clywed (cy)
West Frisian: hearre
White Hmong: hnov
Woiwurrung: ngarrnka
Yiddish: הערן (hern)
Yurok: kom', ko'moyok'
Zealandic: 'ore
Zhuang: ndaejnyi
ǃKung: s'aː
ǃXóõ: ta̰ã :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### See also

* audible
* deaf
* listen

### Interjection

hear
* you hear me
** 1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:Y'all come back now, hear?

### References

* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “hear”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “hear”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Ahre, Hare, Hera, RHAe, Rahe, Rhea, hare, hera, rhea

## Cimbrian
### Alternative forms

* hèere (Sette Comuni)

### Etymology

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.

### Noun

hear m
* (Luserna) man, gentleman

### References

* 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 Frisian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /hɪə̯r/

### Etymology 1

From Old Frisian hār (“honorable”).

#### Noun

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 terms

* leavehearsbistke
* mynhear

#### Further reading

* “hear (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

### Etymology 2

From Old Frisian here, from Proto-West Germanic *hari.

#### Noun

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 reading

* “hear (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011