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harrow.

A device consisting of a heavy framework having several disks or teeth in a row, which is dragged across ploughed land to smooth or break up the soil, to remove weeds or cover seeds; a harrow plow.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhæɹəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhæɹoʊ/US/ˈhɛɹoʊ//ˈhaɾo/Scotland
  1. A device consisting of a heavy framework having several disks or teeth in a row, which is dragged across ploughed land to smooth or break up the soil, to remove weeds or cover seeds; a harrow plow.

  2. An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi; compare Danish harve (“harrow”), Dutch hark (“rake”). Akin to Latin carpere. According to the OED, the verb senses are partly derived from the noun sense, partly from a by-form of the verb harry, itself from Old English hergian.

verb/ˈhæɹəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhæɹoʊ/US/ˈhɛɹoʊ//ˈhaɾo/Scotland
  1. To drag a harrow over; to break up with a harrow.

    transitive
  2. To traumatize or disturb; to torment, distress or vex.

    transitive
  3. To break or tear, as if with a harrow; to wound; to lacerate.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi; compare Danish harve (“harrow”), Dutch hark (“rake”). Akin to Latin carpere. According to the OED, the verb senses are partly derived from the noun sense, partly from a by-form of the verb harry, itself from Old English hergian.

intj/ˈhæɹəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhæɹoʊ/US/ˈhɛɹoʊ//ˈhaɾo/Scotland
  1. A call for help, or of distress, alarm etc.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English harrow, harrowe, haro, from Old French haro, harou, harau, harol, from Frankish *harot, *hara (“here; hither”), from *hēr. Akin to Old Saxon herod, Old High German herot, Middle Dutch hare.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.