different between harden vs harken

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h??dn?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h??dn?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d?n
• Hyphenation: hard?en

Etymology 1

From Middle English hardenen, equivalent to hard +? -en. Cognate with Danish hærdne (“to harden; cure”), Swedish hårdna (“to harden”), Norwegian herdne (“to harden”), Icelandic harðna (“to harden”).

Verb

harden (third-person singular simple present hardens, present participle hardening, simple past and past participle hardened)

1. (intransitive) To become hard (tough, resistant to pressure).
2. (transitive, ergative) To make something hard or harder (tough, resistant to pressure).
3. (transitive, figuratively) To strengthen.
   • 2002, Jane's International Defense Review (volume 35)

     In view of the system's relatively low cost, the preferred alternative could be for the military user to avail himself of multiple base stations rather than seeking to harden the base station hardware for defense applications.
4. (transitive, computing) To modify (a website or other system) to make it resistant to malicious attacks.
5. (transitive, intransitive, dated) To become or make (a person or thing) resistant or less sensitive.

   Synonym: inure

   • KJV, Exodus 4:21

     When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

6. (transitive, intransitive, phonology) To become or make (a consonant) more fortis.

Derived terms

• forharden
• hardened
• hardener
• hardening
• harden off
• harden someone's heart
• harden up
• overharden

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

harden (countable and uncountable, plural hardens)

1. Alternative form of hurden (“coarse linen”)

Anagrams

• Harned, Hendra, hander

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?rd?n

Verb

harden

1. (transitive) To render hard(er), more resistant etc.; to temper metal; to steel nerves

   De geharde veteranen verbeten de pijn zonder jammeren.

   The hardened veterans bore the pain without whining.

2. (transitive) to endure, bear, stand, tolerate

Inflection

Synonyms

• (to endure) uithouden, verdragen

Noun

harden

1. Plural form of harde

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h??k(?)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h??k?n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k?n
• Hyphenation: hark?en

Verb

harken (third-person singular simple present harkens, present participle harkening, simple past and past participle harkened)

1. (transitive, intransitive, chiefly US) Alternative spelling of hearken: to hear, to listen, to have regard.
2. (intransitive, US, figuratively) 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).
   • 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

Where sense 2 is concerned, the bare form harken has been used since the 1980s, though some authorities frown upon this and prefer the traditional form hark back.

References

• harken in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Merriam-Webster’s dictionary of English usage, 1995, page 497
• “Hark/Hearken”, Paul Brians, Common Errors in English Usage, (2nd Edition, November, 2008)

Anagrams

• hanker

Dutch

Etymology

From early modern Dutch harcken, hercken, from hark (“rake”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?rk?n

Verb

harken

1. to rake, to use the rake on

Inflection

Related terms

• hark