broody.
Of birds: sitting persistently and protectively on a nest, in order to hatch eggs.
Meaning & usage
Of birds: sitting persistently and protectively on a nest, in order to hatch eggs.
a broody hen
Of any creature or person: showing an interest in raising young.
Brooding, dwelling upon one's thoughts; moody.
Gloomy.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *brody, *brodi, from Old English brōdiġ (“broody”), equivalent to brood + -y. Cognate with German brütig (“broody”).
A female bird in the condition to incubate eggs; a broody hen, duck, etc.
There are six broodies in that coop.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *brody, *brodi, from Old English brōdiġ (“broody”), equivalent to brood + -y. Cognate with German brütig (“broody”).
Try it on your idea.
broody has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.