hen

• IPA^(key): /hɛn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn

A mother hen with chicks.

From Middle English hen, from Old English henn (“hen”), from Proto-West Germanic *hannju, from Proto-Germanic *hanjō (“hen”), from Proto-Indo-European *kan-, *kana- (“to sing”).

Cognate with Dutch hen (“hen”), West Frisian hin (“hen”), German Low German Heen (“hen”), German Henne (“hen”), Icelandic hæna (“hen”), Danish høne (“hen”), Swedish höna (“hen”). Related also to Old English hana (“cock, rooster”).

• henne (obsolete)

hen (plural hens)

1. A female chicken (Gallus gallus), particularly a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp‎:

     She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.

   Coordinate term: cock

2. A female of other bird species, particularly a sexually mature female fowl.

   Coordinate term: cock

3. (uncommon) A female fish (especially a salmon or trout) or crustacean.
   • 2005, Roderick Sutterby, Malcolm Greenhalgh, “Life in the Nursery”, in Atlantic Salmon: An Illustrated Natural History, Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 21:

     As spawning time approaches – autumn or very early winter in most rivers, though in some late-run streams salmon may spawn as late as January or February – the hen's colouration becomes first a matt-pewter and then a drab dark brown-grey. The cock fish, in contrast, begins to gain some brighter colours.

   Synonym: henfish

   Coordinate terms: cock, cockfish

4. (figuratively, derogatory) A woman, particularly
   • 1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:

     Hen, a woman. A cock and hen club; a club composed of men and women.

   1. (UK, informal) A bride-to-be, particularly in the context of her "hen night" festivities.
5. (UK, informal) A hen night.
6. (Scotland, informal) An affectionate term of address used to women or girls.

   Don't cry, hen. Everything will be all right.

7. (figuratively, derogatory, uncommon) A henlike person of either sex.
8. The hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), a bivalve shellfish.

• (female bird): hen-bird
• (bride-to-be): (US) bachelorette
• (M. mercenaria): hard clam, hen-clam, hen-fish

hen (third-person singular simple present hens, present participle henning, simple past and past participle henned)

1. Alternative form of mother-hen
   • 1943, McCall's - Volume 71, page 69:

     Once he had flared up, "If ever a man was henned, it's me!"

   • 1984, Susan C. Feldhake, Love Beyond Surrender, page 52:

     Mammy henned the black workers into placing the trunks beside the girls.

• broody

From Middle English henne, heonne, hinne, from earlier henene, heonenen, henen, from Old English heonan, hionan, heonane, heonone (“hence, from here, away, from how”), from Proto-Germanic *hina, *hinanō (“from here”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”). Cognate with Dutch heen (“away”), German hin (“hence, from here”), Danish hen (“away, further, on”). See also hence.

hen (not comparable)

1. (dialectal) Hence.

From hen (“hence, away”), or a variant of hench.

hen (third-person singular simple present hens, present participle henning, simple past and past participle henned)

1. (dialectal) To throw.

• NHE, Neh.

From Proto-Brythonic *hen, from Proto-Celtic *senos, from Proto-Indo-European *sénos.

hen

1. old, ancient

• haban, håm

From Middle High German haben, from Old High German hāben, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have; to hold”). Cognate with German haben, English have.

hen (irregular, auxiliary hen)

1. (Tredici Comuni) to have

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

From Middle Low German hen, ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *hiz (“here”). Related to Swedish hän, English hence, and German hin.

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɛn], [ˈhɛnˀ]
• Rhymes: -ɛn

hen

1. Used with a verb, indicating a movement towards or to something.

   Gå hen til din far.

   Go to your father.

   Hestene går hen imod mig.

   The horses are walking towards me.

Contrast with henne; where hen indicates movement, henne indicates position. Thus hvor løber han henne? means "where is he running?", whereas hvor løber han hen? means "to where is he running?".

• IPA^(key): /ɦɛn/
• Hyphenation: hen
• Rhymes: -ɛn

From Old Dutch hin, from Proto-Germanic *himaz.

hen (personal)

1. they (subject pronoun)
2. them (object pronoun)

See the usage note at hun for details on use.

• hun

From Middle Dutch henne, from Old Dutch *henna, from Proto-West Germanic *hannju, from Proto-Germanic *hanjō, from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n- (“to sing”).

hen f (plural hennen, diminutive hennetje n, masculine haan)

1. hen, female chicken; female of a related species.
2. A female of the species of birds brooding on the ground.
3. (figuratively) 'bird', colloquial term for a human female

• (female chicken) kip, kieken
• (brooding bird) kloek
• (female human; informal) kippetje, duifje

• haan m (rooster)
• hoen, hoender n (fowl)

• Jersey Dutch: hän

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

hen (possessive hun)

1. (gender-neutral, nonstandard) they (singular) (subject pronoun). A gender-neutral singular third-person personal pronoun.
2. (gender-neutral, nonstandard) them (singular) (object pronoun). A gender-neutral singular third-person personal pronoun.

hen

1. genitive singular of he

hen

1. Rōmaji transcription of へん

hen

1. Nonstandard spelling of hēn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of hén.
3. Nonstandard spelling of hěn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of hèn.

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

• henne, hene, han, en, heene

From Old English henn, from Proto-West Germanic *hannju, from Proto-Germanic *hanjō.

• IPA^(key): /hɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn

hen (plural hennes or hennen, genitive hennes or henne)

1. hen, chicken
2. female bird

• English: hen
• Scots: hen
• Yola: hen, hin

• “hen, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

hen

1. yes

From Middle Low German hen, henne.

hen

1. used with a verb, indicating a movement towards or to something.
2. (dialectal) where

Through Swedish hen from Finnish hän.

hen (third person singular gender-neutral personal pronoun, possessive hens)

1. (neologism) they

   Hvis noen kjører over fartsgrensen, må hen betale en bot.

   If someone exceeds the speed limit, they must pay a fine.

   Kommer studenten for sent, må hen vente ute.

   If the student comes too late, they have to wait outside.

   Har du nummeret hens?

   Do you have their number?

• Hen can be used when someone's gender is unknown or irrelevant, or to refer to someone who prefers a gender neutral pronoun instead of han (“he”) or hun (“she”).

• han (“he”), hun (“she”), vedkommende (“they”)

• “hen” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “hen_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

• "Det kjønnsnøytrale pronomenet hen har kome inn i norsk dei siste åra og blir brukt i to litt ulike tydingar. I juni 2022 kom ordet òg inn i rettskrivingsnormene for nynorsk og bokmål."
• “New gender-neutral pronoun likely to enter Norwegian dictionaries” by Weronika Strzyżyńska (2022-02-02), in The Guardian

From Middle Low German hen, henne.

hen

1. used with a verb, indicating a movement towards or to something.
2. (dialectal) where

Through Swedish hen from Finnish hän.

hen (third person singular gender-neutral personal pronoun, possessive hens)

1. (neologism) they

   Kjem studenten for seint, må hen venta ute.

   If the student comes too late, they have to wait outside.

   Har du nummeret hens?

   Do you have their number?

• Hen can be used when someone's gender is unknown or irrelevant, or to refer to someone who prefers a gender neutral pronoun instead of han (“he”) or ho (“she”).

• han (“he”), ho (“she”), vedkomande (“they”)

• “hen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “hen”, in Norsk ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, volume 5, Oslo: Samlaget, 2005, columns 292–293
• “hen” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring
• “hen_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

• “Det kjønnsnøytrale pronomenet hen har kome inn i norsk dei siste åra og blir brukt i to litt ulike tydingar”
• “New gender-neutral pronoun likely to enter Norwegian dictionaries” by Weronika Strzyżyńska (2022-02-02), in The Guardian

• IPA^(key): /xɛn/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn
• Syllabification: hen

hen (not comparable)

1. far away

• hen in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• hen in Polish dictionaries at PWN

hen (uncountable)

1. Term of address for a woman.

   Alright Mary hen?

Created as an alternative to hon (“she”) and han (“he”). The coining of the word has probably been influenced by the Finnish hän, a personal pronoun used about human beings and which does not specify gender (Finnish lacks grammatical gender entirely). Hen was suggested as early as 1966 by linguist Rolf Dunås in Swedish regional newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning and was proposed again in a 1994 article by linguist Hans Karlgren, but did not receive widespread attention until around 2010.[1]

• IPA^(key): /hɛn/

• Audio (Central Standard Swedish)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn

hen (third person singular gender-neutral personal pronoun, oblique hen or henom, possessive hens)

1. (neologism) A third-person singular pronoun of unspecified gender; they, thon; alternative to hon (“she”) and han (“he”).
   • 2011, Anders Lokko, “En sång om att ha följt sitt hjärta”, in Svenska Dagbladet‎:

     Alla skilsmässor och separationer är olika. Men i nästan samtliga är det i slutändan någon som blir lämnad och någon som lämnar. Ingen av de rollerna är enkel. Fast det är när den som lämnar gör det för att hen har träffat någon annan […]

     All divorces and separations are different. But in almost all cases, someone is left behind or someone leaves. None of those roles are easy. However, it's when the one who does leaves because they have met someone else […]

   • 2011, Lotten Wiklund, “Jag vill vara hen – inte hon eller han”, in Dagens Nyheter‎:

     I efterhand har hen förstått att det förmodligen har att göra med att hen aldrig riktigt accepterat att det bara skulle finnas två kön.

     In hindsight, they have come to understand that it probably has to do with the fact that they have never accepted that there are just two genders.

   • 2012, Jesper Lundqvist, Kivi och Monsterhund:

     […]ska hen få en hund, kan de halvt säkert lova[…]

     […]then they will get a dog, they can almost promise[…]

   • 2013, Lova Olsson, “Arnholm lanserar 'hen' i riksdagen”, in Svenska Dagbladet‎:

     – Målet är att varje individ ska få det stöd hen behöver för att så snabbt som möjligt lära sig svenska, komma i arbete och klara sin egen försörjning, sade den nyblivna jämställdhetsministern.

     – The goal is to make sure that every individual should receive the support they need to learn Swedish, start working and manage to support themselves as soon as possible, said the newly appointed Minister of Gender Equality.

   • 2013, Ann-Marie Begler & Caroline Dyrefors Grufman, “Flera allvarliga kränkningar i skolan de senaste veckorna”, in Dagens Nyheter‎:

     – En person i personalen som sliter i och skäller på barnen, hotar med stryk och skrämmer dem med det hen vet att de är rädda för.

     – A person on the staff pushes around and yells at the children, threatens with violence and frightens them with things they know they are afraid of.

   • 2014, Nina Åkestam, Meningen med hela skiten‎:

     Vill hen att du ska chansa, eller ta det lugnt?

     Do you want them to gamble, or take it easy?

   • 2015, Ami Sundeman & Anna Lytsy, Kosmosdialogerna‎:

     Hens utgångspunkt är alltid större och mera allomfattande än så.

     Their starting point is always greater and more all-encompassing than that.

• Although the word has gained common use, it is not nearly as common as the gendered words han and hon. From 2011 to 2020, usage of hen increased hundredfold in the media, but no increase was seen in 2021.[2] It has been especially popular among activists for gender equality and adherents of queer theory, and with the transgender community.[3] In 2022, usage of hen was ranked in shared first place alongside misspelling of words as the most annoying language phenomenon in a Swedish survey.[4] Publishers of manuals of style and the Swedish Language Council do not proscribe the usage of hen, but recommend the inflected forms hens as the possessive and hen over henom as the object.[5][6]

From Old Norse hein, from Proto-Germanic *hainō.

Related to Norwegian and Icelandic hein (“whetstone”), Old English hān (“stone, rock”) and modern English hone. Further related to Sanskrit शाण (śāṇa) and Latin cōs with the same meaning. See also (dialectal) Swedish hena (“to hone”).[7]

• IPA^(key): /heːn/

hen c

1. (archaic, dialectal) a whetstone, particularly the small and soft kind.

• bryne n
• brynsten c

• slipsten c (“grindstone”)

From Proto-Finnic *heeno. Cognates include Finnish hieno.

hen

1. fine
2. refined, elegant

• henota

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “изысканный, мелкий, тонкий, утончённый”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [hɛn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [hɛŋ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [hɛŋ˧˧]

Cognate with Kuy [Salavan] hɛːn ("to cough").

hen

1. (pathology) asthma

hen

1. (North Central Vietnam) to cough

hen

1. (Southern Vietnam) okay?; alright?

From Proto-Brythonic *hen, from Proto-Celtic *senos, from Proto-Indo-European *sénos.

• IPA^(key): /heːn/
• Rhymes: -eːn
• Rhymes: -ɛn

hen (feminine singular hen, plural henion, equative hyned, comparative hŷn or hynach or henach, superlative hynaf or henaf, not mutable)

1. old, aged; ancient, antique, pristine, former; inveterate, chronic; original; senior, elder
2. stale, mouldy, musty, fusty
3. unreformed, old, traditional (of style or mode of expressing dates according to the Julian Calendar); reckoned according to the Old Style (of festival)

• This adjective has an alternate, more “senior” comparative in the form of hŷn and an equivalent alternate superlative in the form of hynaf.
• Unlike most Welsh adjectives, this word goes before the noun.
• Like most Welsh adjectives that go before the noun, this word triggers a soft mutation in the word that follows it.

• hin

From Middle English hen, from Old English hen, from Proto-West Germanic *hannju.

hen (plural henès or henes)

1. hen

   Coordinate term: cuck

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 46