broody hen

1. 1.

   a domestic hen ready to brood

   Synonymsbrood henbroodysetting hensitter

   Broaderhen

Questions about broody hen

What does broody hen mean?

broody hen means "a domestic hen ready to brood".

What is another word for broody hen?

Close synonyms include brood hen, broody, setting hen, sitter. 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 hen a common word?

broody hen is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.