HEN Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com (original) (raw)

noun

a female chicken.

Our hens only recently started laying, but these fresh eggs were worth the wait!
the female of any bird, especially a gallinaceous bird.

The mallard drakes are splendidly colorful while the hens are camouflaged in drab plumage.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Scots Informal. an affectionate or familiar term of address to a girl or woman.

That’s lovely, hen, thank you.

noun

the female of any bird, esp the adult female of the domestic fowl
the female of certain other animals, such as the lobster
informal a woman regarded as gossipy or foolish
dialect a term of address (often affectionate), used to women and girls
extremely rare

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of hen

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”; see also chant ( def. ), charm 1 ( def. )

Explanation

A hen is a female chicken. It's important to make sure your new backyard chickens are hens and not roosters — otherwise, those eggs you're looking forward to just aren't going to happen. You can use the word hen for the female of many birds, including turkeys, pheasants, and quail, as well as for a female lobster. In parts of Britain, a hen can also be a (slightly offensive) slang term for a woman, and if something's described as being "rare as hen's teeth," it's extremely precious or scarce.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The disease largely spared large egg-laying hen farms that can house millions of birds in single locations this past year.

FromThe Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

His ancestor, he said, scolded the British: "You found a port as prosperous as a fine hen -- you took its eggs, plucked its feathers and now you spit its bones back at us."

FromBarron's • Feb. 1, 2026

“You have the fox guarding the hen house,” she said.

FromLos Angeles Times • Jan. 16, 2026

My steak was cooked perfectly and complemented by the numerous sides, which include hen of the woods mushrooms, Japanese sweet potato and hand-cut black truffle fries.

FromSalon • Sep. 29, 2025

“I betcher Son Black’s madder’n a wet hen, losin’ Miss Love to a old man.”

From"Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023