Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 24, 2025 is: hark back \HAHRK-BAK\ verb Harking back can be about turning back to an earlier topic or circumstance, as in "a storyteller harking back to his youth," or it can be about going back to something as an origin or source, as in "a style that harks back to the turn of the previous century." // The dinner conversation harked back to the lunch debate over what counts as a traditional holiday meal. // The diner's interior decor harks back to the 1950s. [See the entry >](https://bit.ly/3Mbp1Jz) Examples: "The single harks back to [Chenier's](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clifton-Chenier) heyday when his music was produced on 45s and put into jukeboxes, says [Maureen] Loughran." — Alicia Ault, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 June 2025 Did you know? [Hark](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hark), a very old word meaning "to listen," was used as a cry in hunting. The master of the hunt might cry "Hark! Forward!" or "Hark! Back!" The cries became set phrases, both as nouns and verbs. Thus, a "hark back" was a retracing of a route by dogs and hunters, and to "hark back" was to turn back along the path. From its use in hunting, the verb acquired its current figurative meanings concerned with returning to the past. The variants [hearken](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hearken) and [harken](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/harken) (also very old words meaning "to listen") are also used, with and without back, as synonyms of hark back.