hen
UK/hɛn//hɪn/
hen noun: a female chicken (Gallus gallus), especially a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.
Noun
hen (plural hens)
- A female chicken (Gallus gallus), especially a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.
- She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
- A female of other bird species, particularly a sexually mature female fowl.
- In Tain, north of Inverness, staff detected 11 males and at least seven hens – the highest number there since 2011.2023 June 17, Severin Carrell, “Dancing Capercaillie bird makes a tentative comeback in Scotland”, in The Guardian
- A female fish (especially a salmon or trout) or crustacean.
- As spawning time approaches – autumn or very early winter in most rivers, though in some late-run streams salmon may spawn as late as January or February – the hen's colouration becomes first a matt-pewter and then a drab dark brown-grey. The cock fish, in contrast, begins to gain some brighter...2005, Roderick Sutterby, Malcolm Greenhalgh, “Life in the Nursery”, in Atlantic Salmon: An Illustrated Natural History, Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 21
- A woman.
- Hen, a woman. A cock and hen club; a club composed of men and women.1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
- A bride-to-be, particularly in the context of a hen night.
- A hen night.
- An affectionate term of address used to women or girls.
- Don't cry, hen. Everything will be all right.
- The penis of a trans woman.
- Coordinate term: cock
- A henlike person of either sex.
- The hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), a bivalve shellfish.
- Synonyms:
- hard clam, hen-clam, hen-fish
- A large pewter pot used in a tavern.
Verb (1)
hen (third-person singular simple present hens, present participle henning, simple past and past participle henned)
- Synonym of mother-hen.
- Once he had flared up, "If ever a man was henned, it's me!"1943, McCall's - Volume 71, page 69
- Mammy henned the black workers into placing the trunks beside the girls.1984, Susan C. Feldhake, Love Beyond Surrender, page 52
- Synonyms:
- mother-hen
Adverb
hen (not comparable)
Verb (2)
hen (third-person singular simple present hens, present participle henning, simple past and past participle henned)
- To throw.
hen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hen in Hindi
- female chicken
- मुर्गी murgī
hen in Tamil
- female bird
- பெண் peṇ
- hen-like woman
- பெண் peṇ
- female chicken
- கோழி kōḻi
hen in Marathi
- female chicken
- कोंबडी kombḍī
hen in Urdu
- female chicken
- مرغی
More languagesFewer languages
- hen in Bengali
- মুরগি murgi
- hen in Telugu
- ఆడపక్షి āḍapakṣi, కోడిపెట్ట kōḍipeṭṭa
- hen in Malayalam
- പക്ഷിപ്പിട, പെൺകോഴി, ചിലയിനം മത്സ്യങ്ങളുടെ പെൺവർഗ്ഗം
- hen in Kannada
- ಹೇಟೆ
- hen in Punjabi
- ਕੁੱਕੜੀ kukkaṛī, کُکَّڑی kukkaṛī
- hen in Gujarati
- કૂકડી kukṛī
- hen in Assamese
- কুকুৰা kukura
- hen in Nepali
- पोथी pothī
- hen in Pashto
- چرګه čǝrga
- hen in Tagalog
- inahin
- hen in Arabic
- دَجَاجَة dajāja, دُجَاجَة dujāja, دِجَاجَة dijāja, فَرْخَة farḵa
- hen in Malay
- ayam betina
- hen in Indonesian
- ayam betina
- hen in Persian
- مرغ morġ, کرک kark
- hen in Thai
- แม่ไก่ mɛ̂ɛ-gài
- hen in Vietnamese
- gà mái
- hen in Myanmar
- ကြက်မ krakma.
- Kashmiri
- کۄکٕر kọkụr
Examples of hen in a sentence
- All hens in the laying house have ad lib access to feed.
- While I was cleaning the kitchen cupboards, I ran across Mother's recipe for Cornish game hens.
- The hens are off the lay at present.
Synonyms of hen
17 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- gock
- ladybits
- ladyparts
- ladystick
- princess wand
- shecock
- shenis
- strapless
- strap-off
- they/them
- trannycock
- hard clam
- hen-clam
- hen-fish
- mother-hen
- hen-bird
- bachelorette
Forms of hen
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hens |
| alternative form | henne |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hens |
| present participle | henning |
| past participle | henned |
| past | henned |
Origin of hen
From Middle English hen, from Old English henn (“hen”), from Proto-West Germanic *hannju, from Proto-Germanic *hanjō (“hen”), from Proto-Indo-European *kan-, *kana- (“to sing”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hanne (“hen”), West Frisian hin (“hen”), Dutch hen (“hen”), German Low German Heen (“hen”), German Henne (“hen”), Danish høne (“hen”), Swedish höna (“hen”), Icelandic hæna (“hen”). Related to Old English hana (“cock, rooster”). Also cognate to Latin cicōnia (“stork”), Latin canō (“to sing”), Russian каню́к (kanjúk, “buzzard”). Compare Russian пету́х (petúx, “rooster, cock”) from Russian петь (petʹ, “to sing”). Etymology 1, noun sense 7 after cock (“male chicken; man's penis”).
From Middle English henne, heonne, hinne, from earlier henene, heonenen, henen, from Old English heonan, hionan, heonane, heonone (“hence, from here, away, from how”), from Proto-Germanic *hina, *hinanō (“from here”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”). Cognate with Dutch heen (“away”), German hin (“hence, from here”), Danish hen (“away, further, on”). See also hence.
From hen (“hence, away”), or a variant of hench.
Words formed from hen
- angry as a wet hen
- battery hen
- better an egg today than a hen tomorrow
- blue hen
- blue hen-hawk
- bush-hen
- chaparral hen
- cock-and-hen club
- cock and hen
- cock-and-hen
- Cornish game hen
- Cornish hen
- daker-hen
- dakerhen
- fat hen
- gorhen
- grey hen
- greyhen
- gray hen
- guinea-hen
- guinea hen
- guinea hen weed
- hazel hen
- hazel-hen
- heath-hen
- heath hen
- hen and chicken
- hen and chicks
- hen-and-egg
- henatrice
- hen-balk
- henbane
- hen-blindness
- hen-brained
- hen-cackle
- hen clam
- hen-clam
- hencoop
- hen-corn
- hen-court
- hen-dam
- hen do
- hen dove
- hen-dove
- hen-driver
- hen-feathered
- henfest
- hen-fish
- hen-flesh
- hen-footed
- hen-frigate
- hen-fruit
- hen-harm
- hen harrier
- hen-harrier
- hen-hawk
- hen-headed
- hen hearted
- hen-hearted
- hen-heartedness
Phrases with hen
- hen up
- Don Hen
- hen dos
- hen run
- mud hen
- sea hen
- hen lice
- hen peck
- hen runs
- rice hen
- sage hen
- hen house
36 more phrasesFewer phrases
- hen louse
- hen night
- hen party
- hen pecks
- Maori hen
- marsh hen
- stank hen
- water hen
- hen houses
- hen nights
- hen pecked
- hen pigeon
- jungle hen
- laying hen
- mallee hen
- mother hen
- native hen
- spruce hen
- tappit hen
- turkey hen
- hen parties
- hen pecking
- hen pigeons
- hen weekend
- hen harriers
- hen weekends
- Blue Hen State
- hen and chickens
- hen of the woods
- mad as a wet hen
- wild as a wet hen
- Tasmanian native hen
- miserable as a wet hen
- Hen and Chicken Islands
- Little Red Hen syndrome
- like a hen on a hot griddle
Words that rhyme with hen
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about hen
- What does hen mean?
- Hen means a female chicken (Gallus gallus), especially a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.
- What is hen in Hindi?
- Hen in Hindi is मुर्गी (murgī). See Hen meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is hen?
- Hen can be a noun, a verb or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce hen?
- Hen is pronounced /hɛn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hen?
- The plural of hen is hens.
Words near hen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hen (page history and authors); hen (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hen (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); કૂકડી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); पोथी (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-hen.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.