Etymology Dictionary

HEN,  the female of a bird, especially of the domestic fowl.  (E.)   M.E. hen, Chaucer, C. T. 15445; pl. hennes, id. 14872.—A.S. henn, hen, hæn; Grein, ii. 23.   The proper form is hæn, formed by vowel-change from A.S. hana, a cock; Grein, ii. 11. + Du. hen, fem. of haan, a cock. + Icel. hæna, fem. of hani, a cock. + Dan. höne, fem. of hane, a cock. + Swed. höna, fem. of hane, a cock. + G. henne, fem. of hahn, a cock.   Cf. Goth. hana, a cock.   β. Thus hen is the fem. of a word for cock (obsolete in English), of which the old Teutonic type was HANA.   γ. The word hana means, literally, 'singer,' the suffix -a denoting the agent, as in A.S. hunt-a, a hunter.—✔KAN, to sing; whence Lat. canere, to sing.   Der. hen-bane, Prompt. Parv. p. 235; lit. 'fowl-poison;' see Bane.   Also hen-coop, hen-harrier, a kind of hawk (see Harrier); hen-pecked, i.e. pecked by the hen or wife, as in the Spectator, no. 176:  'a very good sort of people, which are commonly called in scorn the henpeckt.' [†]