hen

/hɛn/

/hɛn/

Other forms: hens

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.

Definitions of hen

1. noun

   adult female chicken
   synonyms: biddy

   types:

   cackler

   a hen that has just laid an egg and emits a shrill squawk

   brood hen, broody, broody hen, setting hen, sitter

   a domestic hen ready to brood

   mother hen

   a hen with chicks

   layer

   a hen that lays eggs

   pullet

   young hen usually less than a year old

   type of:

   Gallus gallus, chicken

   a domestic fowl bred for flesh or eggs; believed to have been developed from the red jungle fowl
2. noun

   adult female bird
   type of:

   bird

   warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
3. noun

   female of certain aquatic animals e.g. octopus or lobster
   type of:

   female

   an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa)
4. noun

   flesh of an older chicken suitable for stewing
   type of:

   chicken, poulet, volaille

   the flesh of a chicken used for food