Harken
/ˈhɑːr.kən/noun
A dialectal or poetic form meaning to listen or pay attention.
Did you know?Harken is a later spelling variant of hark, which comes from Old English hiercnian, meaning “to hear/listen,” and it survives in the same ancient family as hear and heed.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ḱḗḱlos?
“No secure PIE root is usually cited directly for this exact English form; the word is traced through Germanic and Old English history instead.”
Old English
OE
hiercnian
“to listen, hearken”
Middle English
ME
herken / herknen
“to listen, pay attention”
Early Modern English
English
harken / hearken
“to listen attentively; to heed”
Modern English
English
harken
“to listen or pay attention, especially in poetic or dialectal usage”