hen
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /hɛn/
rhymes: -ɛn
Forms: form: hens
form: henne
Etymology: 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”).
Sense 7 after cock (“male chicken; man's penis”).
Senses: examples: text: 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 as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
coordinate_terms: cock
glosses: A female chicken (Gallus gallus), particularly a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.
examples: text: In Tain, north of Inverness, staff detected 11 males and at least seven hens – the highest number there since 2011.
ref: 2023 June 17, Severin Carrell, “Dancing Capercaillie bird makes a tentative comeback in Scotland”, in The Guardian:
coordinate_terms: cock
glosses: A female of other bird species, particularly a sexually mature female fowl.
examples: text: 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 colours.
ref: 2005, Roderick Sutterby, Malcolm Greenhalgh, “Life in the Nursery”, in Atlantic Salmon: An Illustrated Natural History, Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 21:
synonyms: henfish
coordinate_terms: cock
cockfish
glosses: A female fish (especially a salmon or trout) or crustacean.
examples: text: Hen, a woman. A cock and hen club; a club composed of men and women.
ref: 1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:
glosses: A woman.
glosses: A woman.
A bride-to-be, particularly in the context of a hen night.
glosses: A hen night.
examples: text: Don't cry, hen. Everything will be all right.
glosses: An affectionate term of address used to women or girls.
examples: Coordinate term: cock
synonyms: word: clit
word: clitoris
word: girlcock
word: girldick
word: gock
word: hen
word: ladybits
word: ladyparts
word: ladystick
word: princess wand
word: shenis
word: strapless
word: strap-off
qualifier: transgender slang
glosses: The penis of a trans woman.
glosses: A henlike person of either sex.
glosses: The hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), a bivalve shellfish.
coordinate_terms: chicken
glosses: A large pewter pot used in a tavern.
Synonyms: sense: female bird
word: hen-bird
word: bachelorette
sense: M. mercenaria
word: hard clam
sense: M. mercenaria
word: hen-clam
sense: M. mercenaria
word: hen-fish
Derived terms: 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
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
henhood
hen-house
henhouse
hen house
henhussy
hen-hutch
hen-keep
hen-killer
henless
henlike
hen-like
hen-loft
hen louse
hen-mould
hennery
hen night
hennish
henny
hen of grease
hen of Guinea
hen of the woods
henopause
hen-party
hen party
hen-peck
henpeck
hen peck
henpecked
hen-pigeon
hen pigeon
hen-plant
henroost
hen run
hen-run
hen's bill
hen-scratch
hen scratch
hen's fruit
henshit
hen's teeth
hens' teeth
hen's tooth
hensure
hensureness
hen-tailed
hen-toed
hen-trough
hen up
hen weekend
hen-wife
henwife
hen-witted
henyard
hen-yard
jungle hen
laying hen
like a hen on a hot griddle
like a hen with one chick
mad as a wet hen
mallee hen
Maori hen
marsh hen
miserable as a wet hen
moorhen
mother hen
mother-hen
mud hen
mudhen
newshen
Our Lady's hen
peahen
Pharaoh's hen
Port Egmont hen
rare as hens' teeth
rare as hen's teeth
rice hen
sage hen
sagehen
scarce as hen's teeth
sea hen
sea-hen
spruce hen
stank hen
swamphen
tappit hen
turkey hen
turkey-hen
water hen
waterhen
wild as a wet hen
woodhen