Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

mother hen

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.55 in modern English

Syllables: moth-er hen
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks.

noun

An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch.

verb

Alternative form of mother-hen.

Example Sentences

"Baela sends a letter by raven to her father Daemon spilling all the tea, and the news sends a now-pregnant Rhaenyra into mother-hen mode."
"Instead, the very "mother henning" implicit in their choice of "nurturance" over "intimacy" was what the they thought uniquely characterized their relationship to their child."
"He's mother henning and driving me crazy."
"That was probably why the girls mother henned her a bit and sometimes made her feel like the runt of the litter."

Inflected Forms

mother hens (plural) mother hens (present, singular) mother henning (participle, present) mother henned (participle, past) mother henned (past)

Phrases

mother-hen

Frequently Paired Words

mother-hen henpecked hen

Questions

What does mother hen mean?: A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks.

How to pronounce mother hen

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “mother hen”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “mother hen” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.