broody

1. 1.

   a domestic hen ready to brood

   Synonymsbrood henbroody hensetting hensitter

   Broaderhen

Other forms of broody

plural

broodies·

comparative or superlative

broodier

comparative or superlative

broodiest

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about broody

What does broody mean?

broody means "physiologically ready to incubate eggs". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in broody?

broody has 2 syllables: broo-dy. The stress falls on "broo". In IPA it is /ˈbɹudi/.

What is another word for broody?

Close synonyms include brooding, contemplative, meditative, musing, pensive. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is broody a common word?

broody is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.