Etymology

woodhen

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Today it means: The weka (Gallirallus australis). Full definition →

Middle English wodhen ← Old English wuduhenn
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromwuduhenn“woodhen, quail”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromwodhen
  3. English todaywoodhen

From Middle English wodhen, from Old English wuduhenn (“woodhen, quail”), equivalent to wood + hen.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.