EN, a prefix to many English words, chiefly borrowed from the French. In coincides with the Latin, in, Gr., and some English words are written indifferently with en or in. For the ease of pronunciation, it is changed to em, particularly before a labial, as in employ, empower. EN was formerly a plural termination of nouns and of verbs, as in housen, escapen. It is retained in oxen and children. It is also still used as the termination of some verbs, as in hearken, from the Saxon infinitive.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI