horchen

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word horchen. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word horchen, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say horchen in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word horchen you have here. The definition of the word horchen will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofhorchen, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

German

Etymology

An originally Central German word, from northern Middle High German horchen, hōrchen, from late Old High German hōrechen, probably from original *hōrahhōn, 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

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

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) to hark; to listen closely; to try to hear, especially a weak sound
    • 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, or with dative) to heed, to obey.

Usage notes

  • Usually intransitive but formerly also construed with a genitive object. May now be used with auf (to) + accusative, an (at) + accusative, or nach (in a specific direction or location) + dative.

Conjugation

Derived terms

References

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

Further reading

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