Observant for ears

[Jamgirl]

I have often wondered if there is a word that means the same as 'observant', only relating to hearing, rather than sight. If you 'keep your eyes open' or 'peeled', you are observant. If you keep your ears open, you are...? Is there a word for this?

[MrPedantic]

Hello Jamgirl, welcome to Using English!

That's an interesting question. You "prick up your ears" when you hear something of interest; but I can't think of a similar phrase for "to listen out for something".

"Alert" has a visual origin; "attentive" derives from the Latin "attendere", which literally means "to stretch or strain towards", but probably in the sense of "stretching one's mind towards", rather than "straining one's ears".

So no, I can't think of an aural equivalent of "observant" or "vigilant"! Perhaps another member will do better...

Have a pleasant evening,

MrP

[Jamgirl]

Thanks for your reply and your thoughts, MrP. I really don't think there is an answer to this one!

Ah well...

Jamgirl

[DavyBCN]

Thanks for your reply and your thoughts, MrP. I really don't think there is an answer to this one!
Ah well...
Jamgirl

Perhaps attentive works?

[mykwyner]

What's wrong with these sentences?

The listening panel observed that the new speakers sounded much better that the old ones. The observant listeners...

The customers observed that the coffee was more bitter than usual. The observant customers noticed....

One can observe that a summer day is much hotter than a winter night, even if one is blind.

When he opened the refrigerator, he observed a horrible stench coming from the vegetable drawer.

[MrPedantic]

Hello Mykwyner

To my mind, "observe" has more of eyes about it than ears or noses; but as your examples show, that isn't necessarily the case for everyone.

On a more serious note, I'm shaken by your detailed knowledge of recent events in my kitchen.

All the best,

MrP

[Jamgirl]

Hello again
This little question has been niggling at me and so I thought to myself, what would I call it if I were to make a word up for this purpose? I thought maybe 'audent'. I decided to look the word up on dictionary.com, and the word 'audient' was there, meaning 'listening, paying attention'. So it seems there IS a word describing 'Observant for ears'!
Thought I'd just share that with you.

[MrPedantic]

Now the trick is to work it into the conversation...

Pondering "attentive" once more, I find the adj. "attent", with this quotation from 2 Chronicles:

"Myne eares shall be attente unto prayer."

MrP

[MikeNewYork]

Borrowing from animals, attentive ears are often called "perked".