Meaning & use
hens night
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableBritishAustralianinformal
A party for a woman who is about to get married, usually attended by her female friends.
Grammar: Countable; use 'a hens night' or 'hens nights'.
Patterns
- a hens night for someone
- go to a hens night
- organize a hens night
My sister is having her hens night next Saturday at a karaoke bar.
We're planning a hens night for Emma before her wedding in June.
He was the only man at the hens night, but everyone had a good time.
Word forms
| plural | hens nights |
|---|
Common combinations
- hens night party
- They hired a limo for the hens night party.
- hens night out
- A hens night out can get pretty wild.
- hens night celebration
- The hens night celebration included dinner and dancing.
- hens night weekend
- They went to Las Vegas for a hens night weekend.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bachelorette party
- The usual American term for the same event; use it in US contexts.
- hen party
- A common British and Australian variant, often used for the same celebration.
- girls' night out
- A more general term for a fun evening with female friends, not necessarily for a bride.
Word family
- stag night noun
- The equivalent party for a man who is getting married.
Commonly confused: hens night or hen night?
hens night vs hen night
This is a variant spelling; both 'hens night' and 'hen night' are used, but 'hens night' is more common in Australian English.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'hens night' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Hens night is a noun phrase for a party; option 0 uses it correctly as an event. The others misuse it as an object, animal, or verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hens night”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.