ear

English Online Dictionary. What means ear‎? What does ear mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪə̯/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɪəɹ/, /ˈiɹ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪə̯/, [ɪː], [ɪə̯~ɪɐ̯]
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /iə̯/, [iːə̯], [ɪə̯~eə̯]
• Homophones: air, heir, -eer
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English ere, eare, from Old English ēare (“ear”), from Proto-West Germanic *auʀā, 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 (gôš)).

Noun

ear (plural ears)

2. (countable) The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna/auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
3. (countable) The external part of the organ of hearing, the auricle.
4. (countable, slang) A police informant.
5. The sense of hearing; the perception of sounds; skill or good taste in listening to music.
6. The privilege of being kindly heard; favour; attention.
8. 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; a foot-rest or step of a spade or a similar digging tool.

   Coordinate terms: boss, eye
9. (architecture) An acroterium.
10. (architecture) A crossette.
11. (journalism) A space to the left or right of a publication's front-page title, used for advertising, weather, etc.
12. (baking) A curled ridge in the crust of a loaf of bread where the dough was slashed before going into the oven and expands during baking.
13. (graph theory) A path whose endpoints may coincide but in which otherwise there are no repetitions of vertices or edges.

Alternative forms

• ere (obsolete)

Meronyms

• auricle
• auricula
• pinna

Derived terms

• English terms starting with “ear”

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: ia

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.
2. To hold by the ears.

See also

• ear on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• aural

Etymology 2

From Middle English eere, er, from Old English ēar (Northumbrian dialect æhher), from Proto-West Germanic *ahaʀ, from Proto-Germanic *ahaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).

See also West Frisian ier, Dutch aar, German Ähre; also 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)

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

Synonyms

• head
• spike

Derived terms

• corn earworm
• earshoot

Translations

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.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English eren, from Old English erian, from Proto-West Germanic *arjan, 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.

Derived terms

• earable

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Åre, Rea, rea, REA, aer-, A.R.E., ReA, ARE, aër-, Are, Aer, ERA, era, are, Rae

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɾˠ/

Noun

ear

1. The name of the Latin-script letter r/R.

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) litir; á, bé, cé, dé, é, eif, gé, héis, í, jé, cá, eil, eim, ein, ó, pé, cú, ear, eas, té, ú, vé, wae, ex, yé, zae
• Note: The English names are also widely used by Irish speakers.

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): /æ͜ɑːr/

Etymology 1

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

Noun

ēar m

1. billow, wave
2. sea, ocean
3. earth

Declension

Derived terms

• Old English: Ēarmūþa
  • English: Yarmouth

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

• æhher — Northumbrian

Noun

ēar n

1. ear (of corn)

Declension

Descendants

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

Scots

Adverb

ear (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of air (“early”)

References

• “ear, adv., adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish an air (literally “from before”), equivalent to modern a (“from”) + air (“before”).

Noun

ear f

1. east

   Antonym: iar

Derived terms

See also

(compass points)

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^[2], 2021

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian āre, from Proto-West Germanic *auʀā, 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

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English er, from Old English ǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *airi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iː/
• Homophones: aare, e'er, ere

Preposition

ear

1. ere, before

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 37