Wiktionary

hen

See also: Appendix:Variations of "hen"

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /hɛn/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛn

Etymology 1Edit

 
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”).

Alternative formsEdit

NounEdit

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[6]:
      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.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

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.
See alsoEdit

Etymology 2Edit

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.

AdverbEdit

hen (not comparable)

  1. (dialectal) Hence.

Etymology 3Edit

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

VerbEdit

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

  1. (dialectal) To throw.

AnagramsEdit

BretonEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

AdjectiveEdit

hen

  1. old, ancient

CimbrianEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

VerbEdit

hen (irregular, auxiliary hen)

  1. (Tredici Comuni) to have

ReferencesEdit

DanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

AdverbEdit

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 notesEdit

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?".

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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

PronounEdit

hen (personal)

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

See the usage note at hun for details on use.

InflectionEdit
Dutch personal pronouns
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.
Related termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

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

NounEdit

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

  2. hen, female chicken; female of a related species.
  3. A female of the species of birds brooding on the ground.
  4. (figuratively) 'bird', colloquial term for a human female
SynonymsEdit
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
  • Jersey Dutch: hän

Etymology 3Edit

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

PronounEdit

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.

FinnishEdit

NounEdit

hen

  1. genitive singular of he

JapaneseEdit

RomanizationEdit

hen

  1. Rōmaji transcription of へん

MandarinEdit

RomanizationEdit

hen

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

Usage notesEdit

  • 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.

Middle EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

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

  1. hen, chicken
  2. female bird

DescendantsEdit

ReferencesEdit

MohawkEdit

ParticleEdit

hen

  1. yes

Norwegian BokmålEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle Low German hen, henne.

AdverbEdit

hen

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

Etymology 2Edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Through Swedish hen from Finnish hän.

PronounEdit

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 notesEdit
  • 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”).
See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Further readingEdit

Norwegian NynorskEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle Low German hen, henne.

AdverbEdit

hen

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

Etymology 2Edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Through Swedish hen from Finnish hän.

PronounEdit

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 notesEdit
  • 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”).
See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  • “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).

Further readingEdit

PolishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *eno.

PronunciationEdit

AdverbEdit

hen (not comparable)

  1. (literary) far away

Further readingEdit

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

ScotsEdit

NounEdit

hen (uncountable)

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

SwedishEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
FWOTD – 11 March 2013
 
“Hen” represented among other personal pronouns in Swedish

Etymology 1Edit

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]

PronunciationEdit

PronounEdit

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[7]:
      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[8]:
      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[9]:
      – 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[10]:
      – 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[11]:
      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[12]:
      Hens utgångspunkt är alltid större och mera allomfattande än så.
      Their starting point is always greater and more all-encompassing than that.
Usage notesEdit
  • 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]

See alsoEdit

Swedish personal pronouns
Number Person Type Nominative Oblique Possessive
common neuter plural
singular first — jag mig, mej3 min mitt mina
second — du dig, dej3 din ditt dina
third masculine (person) han honom, han2, en5 hans
feminine (person) hon henne, na5 hennes
gender-neutral (person)1 hen hen, henom7 hens
common (noun) den den dess
neuter (noun) det det dess
indefinite man or en4 en ens
reflexive — sig, sej3 sin sitt sina
plural first — vi oss vår, våran2 vårt, vårat2 våra
second — ni er er, eran2, ers6 ert, erat2 era
archaic I eder eder, eders6 edert edra
third — de, dom3 dem, dom3 deras
reflexive — sig, sej3 sin sitt sina
1Neologism. Usage has increased since 2010, and has gained widespread acceptance today.
2Informal
4Dialectal, also used lately as an alternative to man, to avoid association to the male gender.
5Informal, somewhat dialectal
6Formal address
7Discouraged by the Swedish Language Council

Etymology 2Edit

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]

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

hen c

  1. (archaic, dialectal) a whetstone, particularly the small and soft kind.
DeclensionEdit
Declension of hen 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative hen henen henar henarna
Genitive hens henens henars henarnas
SynonymsEdit
Related termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Anders Q Björkman (8 March 2012), “”Hen” föreslogs av språkforskare redan 1994 – i SvD [”Hen” proposed by linguists already 1994 – in SvD]”, in Svenska Dagbladet‎[1]
  2. ^ “Hen står still i svenska medier [hen is stagnant in Swedish media]”, in Språktidningen‎[2], Språktidningen, 18 January 2022, retrieved 18 January 2022
  3. ^ “”Jag vill vara hen – inte hon eller han” [”I want to be hen – not hon or han”]”, in Dagens Nyheter‎[3], 17 May 2011
  4. ^ “Särskrivningar och hen irriterar mest i svenskan [Splitting of compound words and hen causing most irritation in Swedish]”, in Språktidningen‎[4], Språktidningen, 25 April 2022, retrieved 26 January 2023
  5. ^ hen in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
  6. ^ “Hur använder man pronomenet hen? [How is the pronoun hen used?]”, in Aktuellt språkråd‎[5], Swedish Language Council, 25 August 2014, retrieved 12 January 2015
  7. ^ hen in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

VepsEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

AdjectiveEdit

hen

  1. fine
  2. refined, elegant

InflectionEdit

Inflection of hen (inflection type 1/ilo)
nominative sing. hen
genitive sing. henon
partitive sing. henod
partitive plur. henoid
singular plural
nominative hen henod
accusative henon henod
genitive henon henoiden
partitive henod henoid
essive-instructive henon henoin
translative henoks henoikš
inessive henos henoiš
elative henospäi henoišpäi
illative henoho henoihe
adessive henol henoil
ablative henolpäi henoilpäi
allative henole henoile
abessive henota henoita
comitative henonke henoidenke
prolative henodme henoidme
approximative I henonno henoidenno
approximative II henonnoks henoidennoks
egressive henonnopäi henoidennopäi
terminative I henohosai henoihesai
terminative II henolesai henoilesai
terminative III henossai —
additive I henohopäi henoihepäi
additive II henolepäi henoilepäi

Derived termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

VietnameseEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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

NounEdit

hen

  1. (pathology) asthma
Derived termsEdit
Derived terms

VerbEdit

hen

  1. (North Central Vietnam) to cough

Etymology 2Edit

ParticleEdit

hen

  1. (Southern Vietnam) okay?; alright?

WelshEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

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 notesEdit

  • 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 termsEdit

YolaEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

NounEdit

hen (plural henès or henes)

  1. hen
    Coordinate term: cuck

ReferencesEdit

  • 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
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