different between obey vs harken

English

Etymology

From Middle English obeyen, from Anglo-Norman obeir, obeier et al., Old French obeir, from Latin oboedi? (also ob?di? (“to listen to, harken, usually in extended sense, obey, be subject to, serve”)), from ob- (“before, near”) + audi? (“to hear”). Compare audient. In Latin, ob + audire would have been expected to become Classical Latin *ob?di? (compare in + claud? becoming incl?d?), but it has been theorized that the usual law court associations of the word for obeying encouraged a false archaism from ? to oe, to oboedi? (compare Old Latin oinos ? Classical Latin ?nus).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /o??be?/, /??be?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???be?/, /??be?/
• Rhymes: -e?
• Hyphenation: obey

Verb

obey (third-person singular simple present obeys, present participle obeying, simple past and past participle obeyed)

1. (transitive) To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.
2. (intransitive) To do as one is told.
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iv:

     They were all taught by Triton, to obay / To the long raynes, at her commaundement [...].

Synonyms

• hearken

Antonyms

• disobey
• defy
• rebel
• resist
• violate (especially rules)

Related terms

• obedience
• obedient
• obeisance

Translations

Further reading

• obey in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• obey in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References

Anagrams

• e-boy, yebo

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