hearken

From Middle English herkenen (“to listen (attentively); to pay attention, take heed”) [and other forms], from Old English hercnian, heorcnian, hyrcnian, from heorcian (“to hark”) infixed with -n-, from Proto-West Germanic hauʀijan, from Proto-Germanic hauzijaną (“to hear”), from Proto-Indo-European h₂ḱh₂owsyéti (“to be sharp-eared, hear well”), from h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + h₂ṓws (“ear”) + *-yéti (denominative suffix), thus equivalent to hark + -en. The spelling of the English word was probably influenced by hear; a similarly analogical pronunciation existed in Early Modern English.