Word.ws English Dictionary

moorhen

/ˈmʊəɹˌhɛn/US/ˈmʊɹˌhɛn/

moorhen noun: any of various medium-sized water birds of the genus Gallinula, of the rail family, that feed in open water margins.

moorhen: any of various medium-sized water birds of the genus Gallinula, of the rail family, that feed in...
Image: G. Lukasik, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

moorhen (plural moorhens)

  1. Any of various medium-sized water birds of the genus Gallinula, of the rail family, that feed in open water margins.
    • The pond was another favourite place to visit. Moorhens strutted from the neighbouring bushes, and a bevy of Muscovy ducks, a study in black, white and red, waddled from the farmyard hard by to enjoy a refreshing splash.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 217
  2. (UK) A female red grouse, Lagopus lagopus scotica.

moorhen meaning in Tamil

moorhen in Tamil

கானான் கோழி
More languagesFewer languages
Dhivehi
އޮޅުވަލު ކަނބިލި oḷuvalu kaᵐbili

Synonyms of moorhen

All synonyms of moorhen

Forms of moorhen

pluralmoorhens

Origin of moorhen

From Middle English morhen, perhaps from Old English *mōrhenn, an alteration of Old English worhenn (compare coordinate masculine term mōrhana, a possible corruption of worhana (“pheasant”)), equivalent to moor + hen.

Words formed from moorhen

Questions about moorhen

What does moorhen mean?
Moorhen means any of various medium-sized water birds of the genus Gallinula, of the rail family, that feed in open water margins.
What is moorhen in Tamil?
Moorhen in Tamil is கானான் கோழி. See Moorhen meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is moorhen?
Moorhen is a noun.
How do you pronounce moorhen?
Moorhen is pronounced /ˈmʊəɹˌhɛn/ (UK).
What is the plural of moorhen?
The plural of moorhen is moorhens.

Words near moorhen in the dictionary

  1. moorfowl
  2. moorfowls
  3. Moorgate
  4. Moorhampton
  5. Moorhead
  6. moorhen
  7. moorhens
  8. Moorhouse
  9. moorhouseite
  10. Moorhouses
  11. moori

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: moorhen (page history and authors); moorhen (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-moorhen.wav.

Cite this entry: “moorhen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/moorhen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.