hen
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
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adult female chicken
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synonyms:
biddy
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types:
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cackler
a hen that has just laid an egg and emits a shrill squawk
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brood hen, broody, broody hen, setting hen, sitter
a domestic hen ready to brood
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mother hen
a hen with chicks
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layer
a hen that lays eggs
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pullet
young hen usually less than a year old
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type of:
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Gallus gallus, chicken
a domestic fowl bred for flesh or eggs; believed to have been developed from the red jungle fowl
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adult female bird
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type of:
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bird
warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
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bird
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female of certain aquatic animals e.g. octopus or lobster
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type of:
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female
an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa)
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female
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flesh of an older chicken suitable for stewing
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘hen'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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