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A moorhen is a water bird. It is mostly dark, almost black, with a bright red and yellow bill, and it lives by lakes, ponds, and slow rivers, walking in the reeds or swimming with a little jerk of the head. In spite of the name, it is not a farm hen, and you will not usually find it on a moor (the open, wet high land). The name is old and a bit mixed-up; the bird just kept it. You see moorhens in parks as well as in the countryside. They are common in many countries, including Taiwan.
紅冠水雞（中國大陸多稱黑水雞）
組成From Middle English morhen, built like moor + hen. The hen piece is the bird word you know. The moor piece is not a sure story: it may have started as an older English bird name that later looked like moor.
同家族的字
- henthe second piece is the ordinary bird word hen
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
moorhennoun/ˈmʊəɹˌhɛn/
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Any of various medium-sized water birds of the genus Gallinula, of the rail family, that feed in open water margins.
- The pond was another favourite place to visit. Moorhens strutted from the neighbouring bushes, and a bevy of Muscovy ducks, a study in black, white and red, waddled from the farmyard hard by to enjoy a refreshing splash.
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A female red grouse, Lagopus lagopus scotica.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。