overhear

English

Etymology

From Middle English overheren, from Old English oferhīeran (“to overhear, hear, disobey, disregard, neglect”), equivalent to over- +‎ hear. Cognate with Dutch overhoren (“to hear, hear about”), German überhören (“to not hear, ignore”), Danish overhøre (“to overhear”), Icelandic yfirheyra (“to hear”), Gothic *𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (*ufarhausjan, “to disregard, disobey”) (in 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ufarhauseins)).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /oʊ.vɚˈhɪɚ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Verb

overhear (third-person singular simple present overhears, present participle overhearing, simple past and past participle overheard)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To hear something that was not meant for one's ears.

   I was hanging clothes in the garden and I overheard the neighbours talking about Sheila's pregnancy.

Hyponyms

• eavesdrop

Derived terms

• overhearer

Translations

to hear something that wasn't meant for one's ears

• Bulgarian: дочувам (bg) (dočuvam)
• Danish: overhøre (da)
• Dutch: luistervinken (nl)
• Finnish: kuulla sattumalta, kuulla vahingossa, sattua kuulemaan
• German: zufällig mit anhören
• Hungarian: véletlenül (meg)hall
• Italian: origliare
• Macedonian: наслушува (naslušuva), наслушнува (naslušnuva)
• Norwegian: overhøre
• Polish: podsłuchiwać (pl) impf, podsłuchać (pl) pf
• Portuguese: ouvir por acaso, escutar sem querer
• Russian: подслу́шивать (ru) impf (podslúšivatʹ), подслу́шать (ru) pf (podslúšatʹ), случа́йно услы́шать (slučájno uslýšatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: načuti (sh), nasluhnuti
• Spanish: oír por casualidad, oír sin querer
• Swedish: överhöra, råka (sv) höra (sv)
• Vietnamese: nghe lén (vi)