harden

See also: Harden and härden

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹdn̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːdn̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dən
• Hyphenation: hard‧en

Etymology 1

From Middle English hardenen, equivalent to hard +‎ -en. Cognate with Danish hærdne (“to harden; cure”), Swedish hårdna (“to harden”), Norwegian herdne (“to harden”), Icelandic harðna (“to harden”).

Verb

harden (third-person singular simple present hardens, present participle hardening, simple past and past participle hardened)

1. (intransitive) To become hard.
2. (transitive, ergative) To make something hard or harder.
3. (transitive, figurative) To strengthen.
   • 2002, Jane's International Defense Review, volume 35:

     In view of the system's relatively low cost, the preferred alternative could be for the military user to avail himself of multiple base stations rather than seeking to harden the base station hardware for defense applications.

   • 2018 May 26, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London)‎^[1]:

     Ramos had locked Salah’s right arm and turned him, judo-style, as they lost balance going for the same ball. Television replays hardened the suspicion it was a calculated move on Ramos’s part and, when Salah landed with a hell of a thud, the damage was considerable.

4. (transitive, computing) To modify (a website or other system) to make it resistant to malicious attacks.
5. (transitive, intransitive) To become or make (a person or thing) resistant or less sensitive.

   Synonym: inure

   • KJV, Exodus 4:21

     When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

6. (intransitive, informal) To get an erection.
   • 1999 August 2, Karen Mitchell, “Files from the Feminet BBS NOVAD5.TXT 38.38 KB”, in alt.sex.stories.tg‎^[2] (Usenet):

     He hardened as he imagined himself running his hands over her small breasts

7. (transitive, intransitive, phonology) To become or make (a consonant) more fortis; to (cause to) undergo fortition.
8. (Slavic phonology) To unpalatalize or velarize.
   • 2007, Stefan Pugh, A New Historical Grammar of the East Slavic Languages:

     Of course one needs to keep in mind the fact that *tʹ and *dʹ are hardened before *e and *i in Ukrainian and Rusyn […]

   • 2013 February 1, Philipp Strazny, Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Routledge, →ISBN, page 914:

     Belarussian preserved soft labials before vowels, hardened rʹ to r, and affricated tʹ and dʹ […]

Derived terms

• case harden
• forharden
• hammer-harden
• hardened
• hardener
• hardening
• harden off
• harden one's neck
• harden someone's heart
• harden up
• overharden

 

Translations

to become hard

• Bulgarian: втвърдявам се (vtvǎrdjavam se)
• Catalan: endurir-se (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 硬化 (zh) (yìnghuà)

• Czech: tvrdnout, ztuhnout (cs)
• Dutch: hard worden, verharden (nl), verstijven (nl)
• Esperanto: malmoliĝi
• Finnish: kovettua (fi) (hard); lujittua (fi) (tough)
• French: durcir (fr)
• Galician: endurecer (gl)
• Georgian: გამაგრება (gamagreba), გამყარება (gamq̇areba), განმტკიცება (ganmṭḳiceba)
• German: härten (de)
• Greek: σκληρύνω (el) (sklirýno)
• Hungarian: megkeményedik (hu), keményedik (hu)
• Ido: hardeskar (io)
• Irish: cruaigh, sioc, stalc
• Italian: indurirsi
• Latin: dūrescō, rigēscō
• Luxembourgish: häerden
• Maori: totoka
• Marathi: कडक होणे (kaḍak hoṇe)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: herde (no)

• Occitan: durcir (oc), s'endurcir
• Persian: سفت شدن (seft šodan, literally “to become hard”)
• Polish: twardnieć (pl) impf, stwardnieć pf
• Portuguese: endurecer (pt)
• Quechua: chuchuyay, sinchiyay, rumiyay
• Romanian: întări (ro)
• Russian: тверде́ть (ru) impf (tverdétʹ), затверде́ть (ru) pf (zatverdétʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стврднути, отврднути

  Roman: stvrdnuti (sh), otvrdnuti (sh)

• Spanish: endurecer (es)
• Thai: แข็งตัว (th) (kɛ̌ng-dtuua)
• Turkish: sertleşmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: тверді́ти impf (tverdíty), затверді́ти pf (zatverdíty), тве́рднути impf (tvérdnuty), затве́рднути pf (zatvérdnuty)
• Walloon: aduri (wa)

to make hard(er)

• Bulgarian: втвърдявам (bg) (vtvǎrdjavam), закалявам (bg) (zakaljavam)
• Catalan: endurir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 硬化 (zh) (yìnghuà)

• Czech: vytvrdit, tvrdit (cs)
• Dutch: harden (nl), verharden (nl)
• Esperanto: malmoligi
• Finnish: kovettaa (fi) (hard); lujittaa (fi) (tough)
• French: endurcir (fr)
• Galician: endurecer (gl)
• German: härten (de)
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gahardjan)
• Greek: σκληρύνω (el) (sklirýno)
• Hungarian: megkeményít (hu), keményít (hu)
• Irish: cruaigh, sioc, stalc
• Italian: indurirsi
• Latin: firmō, dūrō, obdūrefaciō
• Maori: whakauka, whakapūioio, ūtonga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: herde (no)

• Occitan: endurcir, durcir (oc)
• Polish: utwardzać (pl) impf, utwardzić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: endurecer (pt)
• Romanian: întări (ro)
• Spanish: endurecer (es)
• Turkish: sertleştirmek (tr)

figurative: to strengthen

• Dutch: verstevigen (nl)
• Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)

computing: to modify to make resistant to malicious attacks

• Finnish: vahvistaa suojausta

to become or make less sensitive

• Czech: zatvrdit se
• Dutch: verharden (nl)
• Finnish: turtua (fi) (become); turruttaa (fi) (make); kovettaa (fi) (biblical, of heart)
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gadaubjan)
• Greek: σκληρύνω (el) (sklirýno)
• Irish: cruaigh
• Latin: firmo
• Maori: whakapakeke
• Occitan: s'endurcir
• Polish: hartować (pl) impf, zahartować pf
• Russian: ожесточиться (ru) (ožestočitʹsja), ожесточить (ru) (ožestočitʹ)

phonology: to become or make more fortis

Slavic phonology: to unpalatalize or velarize

Etymology 2

Noun

harden (countable and uncountable, plural hardens)

1. Alternative form of hurden (“coarse linen”)

Anagrams

• Harned, hander, Hendra, Henard

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑrdən

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch harden, herden, from Old Dutch *herden, from Proto-West Germanic *hardijan, from Proto-Germanic *hardijaną.

Verb

harden

1. (transitive) to render hard(er), more resistant etc.; to temper metal; to steel nerves

   De geharde veteranen verbeten de pijn zonder jammeren. ― The hardened veterans bore the pain without whining.

2. (transitive) to endure, bear, stand, tolerate

   Synonyms: uithouden, verdragen

   Deze stank is niet te harden. ― This stench is unbearable.

Conjugation

Conjugation of harden (weak)
infinitive	harden
past singular	hardde
past participle	gehard
infinitive	harden
gerund	harden n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	hard	hardde
2nd person sing. (jij)	hardt, hard2	hardde
2nd person sing. (u)	hardt	hardde
2nd person sing. (gij)	hardt	hardde
3rd person singular	hardt	hardde
plural	harden	hardden
subjunctive sing.1	harde	hardde
subjunctive plur.1	harden	hardden
imperative sing.	hard
imperative plur.1	hardt
participles	hardend	gehard
1) Archaic. 2) In case of inversion.

Related terms

• verharden
• volharden

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

harden

1. plural of harde