To hear means to perceive sound with your ears. When you hear your teacher call your name, sound waves travel through the air, enter your ear canal, and your brain interprets them as words. You can hear a whisper, a shout, music, laughter, or the quiet hum of a refrigerator.

Hearing happens automatically when sound reaches your ears, which is different from listening. You might hear the television in the next room without paying attention to it, but you listen when you focus on understanding what's being said. When someone says “I hear you,” they often mean “I understand what you're saying” or “I'm paying attention to your point of view.”

The word also appears in formal settings like courts and meetings. When a judge hears a case, she listens to evidence and arguments. When a committee holds a hearing, it’s gathering information about an important issue.

People sometimes say “hear, hear!” when they strongly agree with what someone just said. This old-fashioned phrase originally meant “hear him, hear him!” and was a way of telling others to pay attention to a speaker's good point.