ear

See also: EAR, -ear, 'ear, èar, and éar

English

A human ear.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ɪə̯/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ɪɹ/
  • Audio (CA)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
  • Homophone: -eer

Etymology 1

From Middle English ere, eare, from Old English ēare (“ear”), from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô (“ear”) (compare Scots ear, West Frisian ear, Dutch oor, German Ohr, Swedish öra, Danish øre), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws (compare Old Irish áu, Latin auris, Lithuanian ausìs, Russian у́хо (úxo), Albanian vesh, Ancient Greek οὖς (oûs), Old Armenian ունկն (unkn), and Persian گوش‎ (guš)).

Noun

ear (plural ears)

  1. (countable) The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
  2. (countable) The external part of the organ of hearing, the auricle.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
  3. (countable, slang) A police informant.
    • 1976, Stirling Silliphant, Dean Riesner, Gail Morgan Hickman, The Enforcer.
      No I'm not kidding, and if you don't give it to me I'll let it out that you’re an ear.
  4. The sense of hearing; the perception of sounds; skill or good taste in listening to music.
    • Tennyson
      songs […] not all ungrateful to thine ear
    a good ear for music
  5. The privilege of being kindly heard; favour; attention.
  6. That which resembles in shape or position the ear of an animal; a prominence or projection on an object, usually for support or attachment; a lug; a handle.
    the ears of a tub, skillet, or dish;   The ears of a boat are outside kneepieces near the bow.
  7. (architecture) An acroterium.
  8. (architecture) A crossette.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

ear (third-person singular simple present ears, present participle earing, simple past and past participle eared)

  1. (humorous) To take in with the ears; to hear.
    • Two Noble Kinsmen
      I eared her language.

See also

Etymology 2

Ears of wheat.

From Middle English eere, er, from Old English ēar (Northumbrian dialect æhher), from Proto-Germanic *ahaz (compare West Frisian ier, Dutch aar, German Ähre), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) (compare Latin acus (“needle; husk”), Tocharian B āk (“ear, awn”), Old Church Slavonic ость (ostĭ, “wheat spike, sharp point”). More at edge.

Noun

ear (plural ears)

  1. (countable) The fruiting body of a grain plant.
    He is in the fields, harvesting ears of corn.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
fruiting body of a grain plant

Verb

ear (third-person singular simple present ears, present participle earing, simple past and past participle eared)

  1. (intransitive) To put forth ears in growing; to form ears, as grain does.
    This corn ears well.

Etymology 3

From Old English erian, from Proto-Germanic *arjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).

Verb

ear (third-person singular simple present ears, present participle earing, simple past and past participle eared)

  1. (archaic) To plough.
    • 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II:
      That power I have, discharge; and let them go
      To ear the land that hath some hope to grow,
      For I have none.
    • And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley
Translations

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

ear

  1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of eō

Middle English

Noun

ear

  1. Alternative form of eere (“ear of grain”)

Old English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /æːɑ̯r/, [æːɑ̯rˠ]

Etymology 1

Akin to Old Norse aur.

Noun

ēar m

  1. sea
  2. earth

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *ahaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“pointed”).

Noun

ēar n

  1. ear (of corn)

Descendants

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

ear f

  1. east

Antonyms

Derived terms

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian āre, from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws. Compare English ear, Dutch oor, German Ohr, Danish øre.

Noun

ear n (plural earen, diminutive earke)

  1. ear
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