🐔 A female chicken 🍲 Chicken meat 🦞 A female animal

hen

9 1.0

Meat from an older female chicken that people use for stewing

noun
/hɛn/

: gallina

His mother killed two old hens and stewed them with ginseng roots.
Cornish hen
game hen
old hen

Examples

I'll go out and get a hen and have it picked and ready for the pot.

Fiction book (1990)
She'd been right in the middle of stuffing a hen.

Fiction book (1990)
I've got us a little hen roasting in the oven.

Fiction book (1990)
I cooked a hen.

The Monuments Men (2014)
The capons and hens too old to lay landed on their table, fried, baked, boiled, stewed, roasted.

Fiction book (1992)
To prepare a hearty stew, I simmered the hen with vegetables until the meat was tender.
For dinner, we enjoyed a flavorful hen cooked slowly in broth with herbs and spices.
The chef recommended using a hen for the recipe since its meat is perfect for stewing.

Synonyms

chicken

vshen

586 1.0

Meat from a farm bird that people eat

is from an older female bird, tougher and suited to stewing

poulet

vshen

1 9.9

Meat from a chicken that people eat, often in French cooking

is from an older female bird, tougher and mainly for stewing

Idioms

as a wet hen

Archaic

1 9.9

Very unhappy and angry about something

mad as a wet hen

Informal

1 9.8

Very angry or upset

angry as a wet hen

9.9

Feeling very angry and upset

as miserable as a wet hen

Informal

9.9

Very sad and upset, often after something bad happens

wild as a wet hen

Informal

9.4

Feeling very angry and upset

Compounds

hen party

1 3.3

A party for a woman about to get married with only her female friends

mother hen

Informal

1 5.1

A person who cares for and protects others and often worries about them

sage hen

1 8.6

A large brown bird that lives in dry areas with low sage bushes in North America

brood hen

Jargon

5.3

A hen that sits on eggs until they hatch

broody hen

5.4

A hen that sits on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch

fat hen

8.1

A common wild plant with leaves you can eat and cook like spinach

mallee hen

Australian

9.9

A large female ground bird from Australia that builds big nesting mounds and looks after eggs

maori hen

New Zealand

9.9

A large flightless bird from New Zealand with short wings and a small sharp spur that often steals shiny things

marsh hen

Specialized

7.7

A small bird that lives in marshes, like the American coot

mother hen

2.9

A hen that has chicks and cares for them

Mother Carey's hen

9.9

A small seabird that flies low over the sea, often near storms

mud hen

7.1

A medium water bird with dark feathers that swims in lakes and ponds

gray hen

8.3

A female large wild bird with grey brown feathers like a grouse

guinea hen

7.5

A female bird with grey spotted feathers like a chicken

guinea hen

7.7

Meat from a guinea fowl that people cook and eat

guinea-hen flower

9.8

A garden plant with hanging bell-shaped flowers that are purple and white in a checkered pattern

heath hen

9.9

A large wild bird like a prairie chicken that lived in eastern North America and is now extinct

hen harrier

8.7

A medium bird of prey with long wings and tail that flies low to hunt over marshes and open land

hen hawk

9.2

A bird that kills and eats chickens

hen of the woods

8.1

A large mushroom you can eat that has many overlapping caps and grows at the base of trees

hen turkey

7.4

Meat from a female turkey is more tender and tastes milder

hen yard

3.6

A small fenced area where hens live

hen-of-the-woods

8.4

A large edible mushroom with many overlapping caps that looks like a hen and grows at the base of trees

jungle hen

8.2

A female wild bird that is the ancestor of domestic chickens

Rock Cornish hen

6.9

A small young chicken raised for eating, often roasted

setting hen

7.9

A hen that sits on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch

water hen

5.1

A small bird that lives near water like a moorhen or coot

wood hen

New Zealand

9.8

A flightless bird from New Zealand with small spikes on its wings that is bold and curious

How Small

poussin

9.3

Rock Cornish hen

6.9

fryer

1 2.6

broiler

1 3.0

hen

9 1.0

Surface Forms

hen singular

hens plural

Etymology

The cooking sense of hen is the same old word for a female chicken; older hens have tougher meat, so cooks often use a 'hen' for slow stews rather than quick frying. This origin explains why recipes that ask for a hen usually mean meat for stewing.