chen

chen — noun

  • chensingular
  • chensplural

1. a scientific name, used especially in older bird books, for a group of geese inc

1.nounC2
Definition

a scientific name, used especially in older bird books, for a group of geese including the snow goose, whose adult birds are mainly white

Example

The field guide lists the snow goose under the genus Chen.

technical noun in a classification statement

Bao copied the name Chen beside a white goose sketch.

Common collocations
  • the genus Chen
  • place snow geese in Chen
  • use Chen for white geese

Grammar Patterns

the genus Chen

place + bird species + in Chen

Usage Note

Used mostly in technical or older bird-classification writing. Many modern sources place these geese in the genus Anser instead, so Chen often appears in historical labels or taxonomic discussion rather than everyday English.

Common Mistakes

We saw three chen by the lake.
We saw three geese by the lake.
chen is a rare scientific genus name, not the usual everyday word for the birds.
Most modern bird guides put snow geese in Chen.
Some older bird guides put snow geese in Chen.
many current guides use Anser instead, so Chen often sounds dated or specialist.

Etymology

GreekNew LatinEnglish

A scientific Latin name borrowed from Greek chēn, a word meaning 'goose'.