What does "hatchery" mean?

A facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry.

What is a synonym for "hatchery"?

Common synonyms include: birthplace, brooder, cradle, hotbed, nest, nursery.

Pronounced //ˈhæt͡ʃəɹi//.

//ˈhæt͡ʃəɹi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry.
"Next door is a trout hatchery, open to the public every day during the summer."
2
a place where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions (especially fish eggs) wordnet

"At the research facilities of the Department of Agriculture, the incubator can hold hundreds of eggs. Sue Rosoff manages the hatchery."

From hatch + -ery.

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