WordCodex

hen

See also: Variations of "hen"

hen - English

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /hɛn/

Alternative forms

Noun

hen (plural hens)

  1. A female chicken (Gallus gallus), particularly a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.
    • 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.
  4. (figuratively, derogatory) A woman, particularly
    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.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

  1. Alternative form of mother-hen

Adverb

hen (not comparable)

  1. (dialectal) Hence.

Verb

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

  1. (dialectal) To throw.

Anagrams

hen - Breton

Adjective

hen

  1. old, ancient

hen - Cimbrian

Alternative forms

Verb

hen (irregular, auxiliary hen)

  1. (Tredici Comuni) to have

hen - Danish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [ˈhɛn], [ˈhɛnˀ]

Adverb

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.

Usage notes

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?".

hen - Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɦɛn/
  • Hyphenation: hen

Pronoun

hen (personal)

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

Usage notes

See the usage note at hun for details on use.

Inflection

subject object possessive reflexive genitive5
singular full unstr. full unstr. full unstr. pred.
1st person ik 'k1 mij me mijn m'n1 mijne me mijner, mijns
2nd person jij je jou je jouw je jouwe je jouwer, jouws
2nd person archaic or regiolectal gij ge u – uw – uwe u uwer, uws
2nd person formal u – u – uw – uwe zich uwer, uws
3rd person masculine hij ie1 hem 'm1 zijn z'n1 zijne zich zijner, zijns
3rd person feminine zij ze haar h'r1, 'r1, d'r1 haar h'r1, 'r1, d'r1 hare zich harer, haars
3rd person neuter het 't1 het 't1 zijn z'n1 zijne zich zijner, zijns
plural
1st person wij we ons – ons, onze2 – onze ons onzer, onzes
2nd person jullie je jullie je jullie je – je –
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6 gij ge u – uw – uwe u uwer, uws
2nd person formal u – u – uw – uwe zich uwer, uws
3rd person zij ze hen3, hun4 ze hun – hunne zich hunner, huns
1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. 3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative). 5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, and in a similar vein to "you lot" or "you guys" in English, it is common to use gijlui ("you people") or gijlieden ("you people") or one of their contracted variants, and their corresponding objects, possessives and reflexives, in the plural.

Noun

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

Synonyms

Descendants

Pronoun

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 - Finnish

Noun

hen

  1. genitive singular of he (“he (a letter of some Semitic alphabets)”)

hen - Japanese

Romanization

hen

  1. Rōmaji transcription of へん

hen - Mandarin

Romanization

hen

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

Usage notes

  • Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

hen - Middle English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /hɛn/

Noun

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

  1. hen, chicken
  2. female bird

Descendants

hen - Mohawk

Particle

hen

  1. yes

hen - Norwegian Bokmål

Adverb

hen

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

Pronoun

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?

Usage notes

  • 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”).

hen - Norwegian Nynorsk

Adverb

hen

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

Pronoun

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?

Usage notes

  • 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”).

hen - Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /xɛn/
  • Syllabification: hen

Adverb

hen (not comparable)

  1. (literary) far away

hen - Scots

Noun

hen (uncountable)

  1. Term of address for a woman.
    • Alright Mary hen?

hen - Swedish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /hɛn/

Pronoun

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”).

Usage notes

  • 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. It has been especially popular among activists for gender equality and adherents of queer theory, and with the transgender community. 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. 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.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /heːn/

Noun

hen c

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

Declension

Declension of hen 

Synonyms

  • slipsten c (“grindstone”)

hen - Veps

Adjective

hen

  1. fine
  2. refined, elegant

Inflection

Inflection of hen (inflection type 1/ilo)
nominative sing. hen
genitive sing. henon
partitive sing. henod
partitive plur. henoid

Derived terms

hen - Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Noun

hen

  1. (pathology) asthma

Derived terms

Derived terms
  • hen suyễn
  • ho hen

Verb

hen

  1. (North Central Vietnam) to cough

Particle

hen

  1. (Southern Vietnam) okay?; alright?

hen - Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /heːn/

Adjective

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)

Usage notes

  • 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.

Derived terms

hen - Yola

Alternative forms

Noun

hen (plural henès or henes)

  1. hen
    • Coordinate term: cuck
Meaning and Definition of hen
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