noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A bird of one of several species in the genera Porphyrio and Gallinula of the family Rallidae.
2. 2
   any of various small aquatic birds of the genus Gallinula distinguished from rails by a frontal shield and a resemblance to domestic hens wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

swamphenmarsh henmoorhenmoorhenswamphenwater hen

Etymology

From French gallinule, from Latin gallinula.

Related phrases

Allen's gallinuleGallinula melanopsGallinula nesiotisPorphyrio alleniPorphyrio flavirostrisPorphyrio martinicusTristan gallinuleazure gallinulepurple gallinulespot-flanked gallinule

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.