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EAR

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ear¹

  • /ˈɪə̯/ UK
  • [ˈɪː] UK
  • [ˈiːə] UK
  • /ˈɛː/
  • /ˈɪə̯/ Australia
  • [ˈɪː] Australia
  • [ɪə̯~ɪɐ̯] Australia
  • /ˈiə̯/ New Zealand
  • [iːə̯] New Zealand
  • [ɪə̯~e̝ə̯] New Zealand
  • /ˈɪɚ/ Canadian, US, Standard
  • [ˈɪɚ] ~ [ɪɹ̩] Canadian, US, Standard
  • /ˈiɚ/ Canadian, US, Standard
  • [ˈiɚ] ~ [iɹ̩] Canadian, US, Standard
  • /ˈiɹ/ Scotland
  • [iɹ] Scotland

Sounds like air, heir (both cheer–chair merger) · Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws

Proto-Germanic *ausô

Proto-West Germanic *auʀā

Old English ēare

Middle English ere

English ear

From Middle English eare, eere, ere, eyr, ire, yere, ȝhere, from Old English ēare (“ear”), from Proto-West Germanic *auʀā, from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô (“ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws (“ear”), from *h₂ew- (“to perceive”).

Cognates

Cognate with North Frisian uaar, uar, uur (“ear”), Saterland Frisian Oor (“ear”), West Frisian ear (“ear”), Alemannic German Oor (“ear”), Central Franconian Uhr (“ear”), Dutch oor (“ear”), German Ohr (“ear”), Low German Ohr, Oor, Or, our, Ur (“ear”), Luxembourgish Ouer (“ear”), Vilamovian ür (“ear”), Yiddish אויער (oyer, “ear”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål øre (“ear”), Elfdalian ära (“ear”), Faroese oyra (“ear”), Icelandic eyra (“ear”), Jamtish ǿre (“ear”), Norwegian Nynorsk øra, øre, øyra, øyre (“ear”), Swedish öra (“ear”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍉 (ausō, “ear”); also Old Irish áu, ó (“ear”), Latin auris, ōris (“ear”), Greek αφτί (aftí), αυτί (aftí, “ear”), Albanian vesh (“ear; handle”), Latvian auss (“ear”), Lithuanian ausis (“ear”), Belarusian ву́ха (vúxa, “ear”), Bulgarian ухо́ (uhó, “ear”), Czech, Polish, Silesian, and Slovak ucho (“ear”), Kashubian ùchò (“ear”), Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian wucho (“ear”), Macedonian уво (uvo, “ear”), Polabian vaux’ü (“ear”), Russian у́хо (úxo, “ear”), Serbo-Croatian у̏во, у̏хо, ȕho, ȕvo (“ear”), Slovene uho (“ear”), Slovincian wùchô (“ear”), Ukrainian ву́хо (vúxo, “ear”), Armenian ունկ (unk, “ear”), Persian هوش (hōš / huš, “intellect; intelligence; understanding”), Sanskrit उषस् (uṣas, “outer passage of the ear”).

noun ears · ere · eare

  1. countable The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
  2. countable The external part of the organ of hearing, the auricle. 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. 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. a good ear for music
  5. The privilege of being kindly heard; favour; attention. Dionysius[…]would give no ear to his suit.
  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; a foot-rest or step of a spade or a similar digging tool. the ears of a tub, skillet, or dish; The ears of a boat are outside kneepieces near the bow.
  7. An acroterium.
  8. A crossette.
  9. A space to the left or right of a publication's front-page title, used for advertising, weather, etc. In journalism, ears flank the title as boxes in the left and right top corners of a publication (generally a newspaper).
  10. 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.
  11. The outer panels or flaps (protrusions) of a diaper upon which the fasteners are located, which are fastened around the wearer's waist.
  12. A path whose endpoints may coincide but in which otherwise there are no repetitions of vertices or edges.

Similar: ear, earball, King Lear, listener, lug, shell-like

verb ears · earing · eared · eare

  1. humorous, transitive To take in with the ears; to hear. I eared her language.
  2. transitive To hold by the ears. Sometimes, the helper eared the horse down; and sometimes he used a blindfold.

ear²

  • /ˈɪə̯/ UK
  • [ˈɪː] UK
  • [ˈiːə] UK
  • /ˈɛː/
  • /ˈɪə̯/ Australia
  • [ˈɪː] Australia
  • [ɪə̯~ɪɐ̯] Australia
  • /ˈiə̯/ New Zealand
  • [iːə̯] New Zealand
  • [ɪə̯~e̝ə̯] New Zealand
  • /ˈɪɚ/ Canadian, US, Standard
  • [ˈɪɚ] ~ [ɪɹ̩] Canadian, US, Standard
  • /ˈiɚ/ Canadian, US, Standard
  • [ˈiɚ] ~ [iɹ̩] Canadian, US, Standard
  • /ˈiɹ/ Scotland
  • [iɹ] Scotland

Sounds like air, heir (both cheer–chair merger) · Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éḱos

Proto-Germanic *ahaz

Proto-West Germanic *ahaʀ

Old English ēar

Middle English er

English ear

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

noun ears

  1. countable The fruiting body of a grain plant. He is in the fields, harvesting ears of corn.

Similar: ear, earball, King Lear, listener, lug, shell-like

verb ears · earing · eared

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

ear³

  • /ˈɪə̯/ UK
  • [ˈɪː] UK
  • [ˈiːə] UK
  • /ˈɛː/
  • /ˈɪə̯/ Australia
  • [ˈɪː] Australia
  • [ɪə̯~ɪɐ̯] Australia
  • /ˈiə̯/ New Zealand
  • [iːə̯] New Zealand
  • [ɪə̯~e̝ə̯] New Zealand
  • /ˈɪɚ/ Canadian, US, Standard
  • [ˈɪɚ] ~ [ɪɹ̩] Canadian, US, Standard
  • /ˈiɚ/ Canadian, US, Standard
  • [ˈiɚ] ~ [iɹ̩] Canadian, US, Standard
  • /ˈiɹ/ Scotland
  • [iɹ] Scotland

Sounds like air, heir (both cheer–chair merger) · Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

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 ears · earing · eared

  1. archaic To plough. That power I have, discharge; and let them go To ear the land that hath some hope to grow, For I have none.

EAR⁴

noun EARs

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Enterprise Application Archive, a file format used to package Java applications.Enterprise Application Archive
  2. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of estimated average requirements.estimated average requirements

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