hen

[ hen ]

noun

1. a female chicken:

   Our hens only recently started laying, but these fresh eggs were worth the wait!

2. the female of any bird, especially a gallinaceous bird:

   The mallard drakes are splendidly colorful while the hens are camouflaged in drab plumage.

3. the female of certain marine creatures, including lobsters and salmon:

   I prefer a hen when making lobster bisque, as the dark red roe enhances both flavor and color.

4. Informal: Sometimes Offensive. a usually middle-aged or older woman, especially one who is considered to be petty or gossipy:

   Let’s get out of here and leave the hens to their blather.

5. Informal. a female in attendance at a hen party:

   The incident at the restaurant occurred hours after our party was over and we’d all gone home, but all of us hens were brought in for questioning the next morning.

6. British and Australian Informal. the bride-to-be at a bachelorette party:

   A toast to Vera, the beautiful hen, who’s flying our coop in less than a fortnight!

7. Scots Informal. an affectionate or familiar term of address to a girl or woman:

   That’s lovely, hen, thank you.

hen

/ hɛn /

noun

1. the female of any bird, esp the adult female of the domestic fowl
2. the female of certain other animals, such as the lobster
3. informal.
   a woman regarded as gossipy or foolish
4. dialect.
   a term of address (often affectionate), used to women and girls
5. scarce as hen's teeth
   scarce as hen's teeth extremely rare

Other Words From

• hen·like adjective
• hen·nish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hen¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English hen(n) (compare Old English hana “cock”); cognate with German Henne; akin to Latin canere “to sing”; chant ( def ), charm ¹( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of hen¹

Old English henn; related to Old High German henna, Old Frisian henne

Idioms and Phrases

see mad as a hornet (wet hen) ; scarce as hen's teeth .

Example Sentences

That is not the case with egg-laying hens, which have been bred to put all their energy toward laying.

From Vox

In chickens, the hen controls whether the resulting chick is male or female.

From Vox

All the eggs produced by hens sexed with this technology are sold under the Respeggt brand, free from chick culling.

From Vox

File this under, “Sure, I’ll watch your hens,” said the fox.

From Ozy

You can look at the number of hens laying eggs in this country.

From Freakonomics

He even claims that hen partridges conceive just by smelling the scent of males.

From The Daily Beast

“[W]hen the going got tough, his economic team picked Wall Street,” Warren said.

From The Daily Beast

He eventually brings his wife and children over, and later he manages a hen and rabbit farm.

From The Daily Beast

He described her then as “a mother hen who took care of everyone.”

From The Daily Beast

“[W]hen a novelist finds an audience, even a small one … the relation is based on recognition, not misunderstanding,” he writes.

From The Daily Beast

Out of the darkening sky rang the twanging call of a night-hawk, and the cluck of a dozing hen sounded from the foliage overhead.

From Project Gutenberg

What can be prettier than a brood of chickens with a good motherly hen, like the one in this picture!

From Project Gutenberg

“Well, Hen knows how to kill snakes, but maybe she is a poor judge of character,” laughed Amy.

From Project Gutenberg

The storm hath passed;I hear the birds rejoice; the hen,Returned into the road again,Her cheerful notes repeats.

From Project Gutenberg

Their manner of talking has been compared to the clucking of a hen, and by the Dutch to the "gobbling of a turkeycock."

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• chicken
• duck
• fowl
• geese
• pheasant
• pigeon