mother hen
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Someone who cares for the needs of others.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
muhtherenSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmʌðɚɛn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A person who cares for the needs of others (especially in an overprotective or interfering way)
idiomatic
An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch.
literally
A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks.
literally
A hen with chicks
verb
To behave in an overprotective or extremely nurturing manner (towards).
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person who cares for the needs of others (especially in an overprotective or interfering way)
Used this way, mother hen is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.