How do you use the word "hen" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "hen": The hen is hatching her chicks. The hen sits on her eggs until they hatch.

Hen Meaning

/hɛn/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA female chicken (Gallus gallus), especially a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.

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

Sentence Examples

The hen is hatching her chicks.

The hen sits on her eggs until they hatch.

CEFR Practice Quiz

The ____ laid an egg in the nest this morning.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The farmer's ____ laid a fresh brown egg early this morning in the straw-filled nesting box.

Word Origin & History

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 Saterland Frisian Hanne (“hen”), West Frisian hin (“hen”), Dutch hen (“hen”), German Low German Heen (“hen”), German Henne (“hen”), Danish høne (“hen”), Swedish höna (“hen”), Icelandic hæna (“hen”). Related to Old English hana (“cock, rooster”). Also cognate to Latin cicōnia (“stork”), Latin canō (“to sing”), Russian каню́к (kanjúk, “buzzard”). Compare Russian пету́х (petúx, “rooster, cock”) from Russian петь (petʹ, “to sing”). Etymology 1, noun sense 7 after cock (“male chicken; man's penis”).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"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." — 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

"In Tain, north of Inverness, staff detected 11 males and at least seven hens – the highest number there since 2011." — 2023 June 17, Severin Carrell, “Dancing Capercaillie bird makes a tentative comeback in Scotland”, in The Guardian:

"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." — 2005, Roderick Sutterby, Malcolm Greenhalgh, “Life in the Nursery”, in Atlantic Salmon: An Illustrated Natural History, Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 21:

"Hen, a woman. A cock and hen club; a club composed of men and women." — 1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:

"Once he had flared up, "If ever a man was henned, it's me!"" — 1943, McCall's - Volume 71, page 69:

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