hen

English

/hɛn/

noun
Definitions
  • A female chicken (Gallus gallus), particularly a sexually mature one kept for its eggs.
  • A female of other bird species, particularly a sexually mature female fowl.
  • (uncommon) A female fish (especially a salmon or trout) or crustacean.
  • (figuratively) A woman, particularly
  • (UK) A hen night.
  • (Scotland) An affectionate term of address used to women or girls.
  • (figuratively) A henlike person of either sex.
  • The hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), a bivalve shellfish.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English hen inherited from Old English henn (hen) inherited from Proto-Germanic *hanjō (hen) inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kan- (sing).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*kan-

Gloss

sing

Concept
Semantic Field

Speech and language

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms