Barked

Barked is the simple past tense and past participle of the verb bark. The most common meaning is to make a barking sound, typically by a dog or other canine, though other animals or loud vocalizations can be described this way. For example, "The dog barked at the mail carrier."

Barked can also describe speaking in a sharp, abrupt manner or issuing commands forcefully. In this sense, to bark is to speak gruffly or to issue orders without hesitation, as in "The coach barked instructions to the players" or "The drill sergeant barked orders." The expression "bark up the wrong tree" uses the same verb in a figurative sense about pursuing the wrong course of action.

Pronunciation and form: barked is pronounced /bɑːrkt/ or /ˈbɑːrkt/ depending on dialect, with the final /t/ typically produced as a stop in standard varieties of English. The term can appear in both narrative and descriptive writing to indicate a past event of barking or to describe a forceful communication.

See also: bark, barking, barking up the wrong tree.