Other forms: listening, listened, listens
To listen is to point your ears at something on purpose. You listen to a song, listen for the kettle, lean in and listen when someone drops their voice.
The rule worth memorising: listen takes to before an object. You listen to music, listen to the radio, listen to me — never listen music. With no object it stands alone: be quiet and listen. Listen to someone also means do what they tell you, and that is where most arguments with teenagers start. Listen out for means stay alert for a sound you are expecting, listen in means eavesdrop or tune in, and listen up demands attention before an announcement. Keep it apart from hear: listening is a choice you make, hearing happens to you whether you want it or not.
1verblistenTo pay careful attention to a sound on purpose.~70%
“Listen to the wind in the trees for a moment.”
2verbtakeTo take someone's advice, or do what they say.~28%
“He never listens to anyone who has done the job before.”
3verbdemandUsed to demand attention before you say something.~2%
“Listen, I'm sorry about last night.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 7 sentences found in the wild and placed 7 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Listen comes from Old English hlysnan, on a Proto-Germanic verb built from the Indo-European root *ḱlew-, 'to hear'. That root spread far: Welsh clywed still means to hear, and Latin clueō meant to be famous — to be heard of. Listening and being talked about grew from one seed.
Old English
hlysnan
Middle English
listenen
English, today
listen
From Middle English listenen, from Old English hlysnan. From Middle English listenen, listnen, alteration (due to Middle English listen (“to listen, give heed to”)) of Old English hlysnan (“to listen”), from Proto-Germanic hlusnijaną, hlusnōną (compare Middle High German lüsenen), from Proto-Germanic hlusēną (compare Old High German hlosēn), from Proto-Indo-European ḱlew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Swedish lyssna (“to listen”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA