ear

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

English

Picture dictionary

ear

skull

brain

eye

lip

nose

mouth

chin

jaw

ear

temple

neck

Click on labels in the image.

A human ear.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪə̯/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪɹ/

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Audio (GA)

  (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 هوش (huš)).

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.
   • Francis Bacon

     Dionysius […] would give no ear to his suit.

   • William Shakespeare

     Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

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

• ere

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: ia

Derived terms

Terms derived from ear (noun)

• bend somebody's ear
• between the ears
• by ear
• cauliflower ear
• earache
• earbud
• ear canal
• eardrum
• earful
• earhole
• earlobe
• earmark
• earphone
• earpiece
• earprint
• earring
• ears are burning
• earshot
• earsore
• ear tag, ear-tag
• ear to the ground
• ear trumpet
• earwax
• earworthy
• external ear
• have one's ears lowered
• inner ear
• little pitchers have big ears
• make a silk purse of a sow's ear
• middle ear
• mind's ear
• outer ear
• out on one's ear
• surfer’s ear
• swimmer’s ear
• up on one's ear
• walls have ears

 

• Pages starting with “ear”.

Translations

See ear/translations § Noun

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.

2. To hold by the ears.
   • 1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 40:

     Sometimes, the helper eared the horse down; and sometimes he used a blindfold.

   • 2013, Fay E. Ward, The Cowboy at Work:

     The general technique was to rope the horse around the neck, and, while one or two men eared the horse down (held him by the ears), the rider saddled the animal and stepped above him.

See also

• Template:projectlink
• aural

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.

(deprecated template usage)

Noun

ear (plural ears)

2. (countable) The fruiting body of a grain plant.

   He is in the fields, harvesting ears of corn.

Synonyms

• head
• spike

Derived terms

• corn earworm

Translations

fruiting body of a grain plant

• Armenian: հասկ (hy) (hask)
• Aromanian: Template:t-simple
• Bashkir: башаҡ (başaq)
• Belarusian: ко́лас m (kólas)
• Bulgarian: клас (bg) m (klas)
• Catalan: Template:t-simple
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 穗 (zh) (suì)

• Czech: Template:t-simple
• Dalmatian: Template:t-simple
• Danish: Template:t-simple
• Dutch: Template:t-simple
• Esperanto: Template:t-simple
• Estonian: Template:t-simple
• Faroese: Template:t-simple
• Finnish: Template:t-simple
• French: Template:t-simple
• Friulian: Template:t-simple
• Galician: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple
• German: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple

  Alemannic German: Chornäli, Chornähre

• Greek: στάχυ (el) n (stáchy)

  Ancient: στάχυς m (stákhus)

• Hungarian: Template:t-simple
• Icelandic: Template:t-simple
• Ido: Template:t-simple
• Italian: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple
• Japanese: 穂 (ja) (ほ, ho)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Jeju: 고고리 (gogori)
• Korean: 이삭 (ko) (isak)
• Kurdish: Template:t-simple

  Northern Kurdish: simbil (ku)

• Latin: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple
• Latvian: Template:t-simple
• Lithuanian: Template:t-simple, (of maize) Template:t-simple
• Macedonian: клас m (klas)
• Occitan: Template:t-simple
• Old Saxon: ahar n
• Persian: سنبله (fa) (sombole), خوشه (fa) (xūše)
• Polish: Template:t-simple
• Portuguese: Template:t-simple
• Romanian: Template:t-simple
• Romansch: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple
• Russian: ко́лос (ru) m (kólos) (cereal), поча́ток (ru) m (počátok) (maize)
• Sardinian: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple
• Serbo-Croatian: клас m, Template:t-simple
• Sicilian: Template:t-simple
• Slovak: Template:t-simple
• Slovene: Template:t-simple
• Southern Altai: мажак (mažak)
• Spanish: Template:t-simple
• Swahili: suke class 5/6
• Swedish: Template:t-simple
• Tagalog: Template:t-simple (corn), Template:t-simple (grain)
• Turkish: Template:t-simple
• Ukrainian: ко́лос m (kólos)
• Vietnamese: Template:t-simple
• Volapük: Template:t-simple
• Zealandic: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple

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.

Translations

to put forth ears in growing

• Catalan: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple
• Russian: колоси́ться (ru) impf (kolosítʹsja)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: Template:t-simple

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.

   • Template:RQ:Authorized Version

     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

plough — see plough

archaic: to plough

• Arabic: حَرَثَ (ḥaraṯa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 耕 (zh) (gēng)

• Dutch: Template:t-simple
• Estonian: Template:t-simple
• Finnish: Template:t-simple
• French: Template:t-simple
• German: Template:t-simple
• Greek: ζευγαρίζω (el) (zevgarízo), αροτριώ (arotrió)
• Hungarian: Template:t-simple
• Icelandic: Template:t-simple
• Italian: Template:t-simple
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 耕す (ja) (tagayásu)
• Korean: 갈다 (ko) (galda)
• Latin: Template:t-simple
• Macedonian: ора (ora)
• Polish: Template:t-simple
• Portuguese: Template:t-simple
• Romanian: Template:t-simple
• Russian: паха́ть (ru) impf (paxátʹ), вспаха́ть (ru) pf (vspaxátʹ)
• Spanish: Template:t-simple
• Swahili: Template:t-simple
• Swedish: Template:t-simple, Template:t-simple

Anagrams

• ARE, Aer, ERA, REA, Rae, Rea, aer-, are, aër-, era, rea

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) ear

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of eō

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Middle English

Noun

ear

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

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Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æ͜ɑːr/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *auraz. Akin to Old Norse aurr (“mud”).

Noun

ēar m

1. sea
2. earth

Derived terms

• Old English: Ēarmūþa
  • English: Yarmouth

Etymology 2

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

Noun

ēar n

1. ear (of corn)

Alternative forms

• æhher — Northumbrian

Descendants

• Middle English: eere, ear, ere, er, ȝer, eyre
  • English: ear
  • Scots: aicher, icker, aiker (< æhher)

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Scottish Gaelic

Noun

ear f

1. east

   Antonym: iar

Derived terms

• an ear
• sear

 

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “ear”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• “ear” in Am Faclair Beag - Scottish Gaelic Dictionary.
• “ear” in LearnGaelic - Dictionary.

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West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian āre, from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws.

Noun

ear n (plural earen, diminutive earke)

1. ear

Derived terms

• earbel
• earring

Further reading

• “ear (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011