horchen

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German

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Etymology

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An originally Central German word, from northern Middle High German horchen, hōrchen, from late Old High German hōrechen, probably from original *hōrahhōn,[1] from Proto-Germanic *hauzakōną, derived from *hauzijaną + intensive -k-. Cognate with Bavarian huachn, Middle Dutch horken, hoorken, Old Frisian hērkia (West Frisian harkje), Old English *heárcian (English hark).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈhɔʁçən/, [ˈhɔɐ̯çn̩]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: hor‧chen

Verb

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horchen (weak, third-person singular present horcht, past tense horchte, past participle gehorcht, auxiliary haben)

  1. (intransitive) to listen closely (to try to hear, especially a weak sound) [with auf (+ accusative) or (formerly) genitive ‘to someone/something’; or with an (+ accusative) ‘at something, e.g. a wall’; or with nach (+ dative) ‘towards a direction or location’]
    • 1840, Die beyden Spencer oder Die Wunder der Todtengruft. Nach einer wahren Englischen Geschichte des 14ten Jahrhunderts frey bearbeitet, Wien, page 185:
      Er hörte seinen Namen, er horchte des Gespräches, erkannte Blankens und seines Vaters Stimme, und stürzte schnell hervor in die Arme seiner Gattin.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (intransitive) to heed, to obey [with dative ‘someone’]

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge (1883) “horchen”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Further reading

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  • horchen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • horchen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • horchen” in Duden online
  • horchen” in OpenThesaurus.de