Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

hen harrier

American  

noun

British.
  1. northern harrier.


hen harrier British  

noun

  1. US and Canadian names: marsh hawk, marsh harrier. a common harrier, Circus cyaneus, that flies over fields and marshes and nests in marshes and open land

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of hen harrier

First recorded in 1555–65


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

"There's a jay ... That's a bluethroat ... Do you see the hen harrier? We're lucky," the 37-year-old photographer told AFP.

From Barron's ● May 20, 2026

The bog is an important site for biodiversity and is home to the endangered hen harrier.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025

That really annoyed me," Deller says with another smile, "so I thought I would do something with a giant hen harrier taking revenge on man, not Prince Harry necessarily, but man in general.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 1, 2013

From 100 feet away, walking up the promenade to the British pavilion, the first thing you see is a mural of a hen harrier picking up a Range Rover in its talons.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 1, 2013

She at length found her way to the dead hen harrier, as it lay on a slab of flagstone.

From The Pilots of Pomona by Robert Leighton

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Just like flashcards, but way more fun

Don't take our word for it. Leave the boring studying behind and join VocabTrainer today. You'll learn even faster and never look back.

Take me to Vocabulary.com