1
a
: a female chicken especially over a year old
broadly
: a female bird
b
: the female of various mostly aquatic animals (such as lobsters or fish)
2
: woman
especially
: a fussy middle-aged woman
Examples of hen in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
An egg's color depends on the breed of the hen.
—
Jeffrey Steingarten, Vogue, 5 Apr. 2026
The woods erupted with half a dozen hens.
—Charles Elliott, Outdoor Life, 2 Apr. 2026
An outbreak forced farmers and commercial producers to slaughter entire broods of egg-laying hens, but ebbing cases in the second half of last year helped restore egg supplies, said Mark Jordan, the executive director of agricultural research firm LEAP Market Analytics.
—ABC News, 1 Apr. 2026
Three of them stayed together, but the fourth couldn’t resist Bergeron’s imitation of a hen turkey calling and branched off, coming within 20 yards of the blind.
—Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hen
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Jeffrey Steingarten, Vogue, 5 Apr. 2026
The woods erupted with half a dozen hens.
—Charles Elliott, Outdoor Life, 2 Apr. 2026
An outbreak forced farmers and commercial producers to slaughter entire broods of egg-laying hens, but ebbing cases in the second half of last year helped restore egg supplies, said Mark Jordan, the executive director of agricultural research firm LEAP Market Analytics.
—ABC News, 1 Apr. 2026
Three of them stayed together, but the fourth couldn’t resist Bergeron’s imitation of a hen turkey calling and branched off, coming within 20 yards of the blind.
—Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hen
Cite this Entry
“Hen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hen. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
hen
noun1
: a female chicken especially over a year old
2
: a female of any bird
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