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PlainSpell

hen

/hɛn/noun, verb, adverb

hen is spelled H-E-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hen means “A female chicken (Gallus gallus), especially a sexually mature one kept for her eggs” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hen is hens.

How many letters and syllables are in hen?

Letters3: H-E-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is hen?

Hen appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce hen?

  • US /hɛn/
  • US /hɪn/
  • Australia /hen/

Hen has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hen.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with hen?

11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hen from its last stressed vowel (/ɛn/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of hen

  • hens plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • henne
  • henning participle, present
  • henned participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does hen mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

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

  2. 2

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

  3. 3

    A female fish (especially a salmon or trout) or crustacean.

  4. 4

    A woman.

  5. 5

    UKinformalA bride-to-be, particularly in the context of a hen night.

  6. 6

    UKinformalA hen night.

  7. 7

    ScotlandinformalAn affectionate term of address used to women or girls.

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

  8. 8

    The penis of a trans woman.

    Coordinate term: cock

verb

  1. 1

    Synonym of mother-hen.

  2. 2

    To throw.

adverb

  1. 1

    Hence.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Hen in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpoule (female chicken)
GermanHenne, Legehenne, Huhn (female chicken), Weibchen (female bird)
Portuguesegalinha (female chicken), ave-fêmea, pássara (female bird)
Spanishgallina (female chicken), ave hembra (female bird)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does hen come from?

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”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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