hatchery

Etymology

It is formed from English hatch + -ery,^[2][3][4][5] the verb meaning to bring forth young from eggs;^[2][4] the OED compares the earlier hatcher.^[2] The verb hatch is from Middle English hacchen,^[6][7] probably from an unrecorded Old English *hæccan,^[2][4][6] related to Middle High German hecken, used of birds mating.^[4][6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A place where fish or poultry eggs are hatched under controlled conditions: 1857, in W. C. Milne's Life in China.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The revised OED of 2017 found the word in 1857;^[2] the 1989 edition had dated it to 1880,^[8] the date Merriam-Webster Unabridged still gives,^[9] and Etymonline dates it to 1875.^[4] The 1989 edition defined it especially as a place for hatching fish eggs by artificial means.^[8] Figurative use, a place where something is bred or produced, is also recorded.^[2][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds a farming sense, a place where weanling pigs are produced on a large scale for feeding.^[9]

Timeline

• 1857 – a place where eggs are hatched artificially.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1875, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1880.^[4][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A place where eggs, especially of poultry or fish, are hatched under artificial conditions: a trout hatchery on the river.^{[10][9][2][3]}
2. A place for raising young pigs in large numbers to be fed for market.^[9]
3. Figuratively, a place where something is bred or produced.^[2][8]

Word family

• subhatchery

Related words

• hatch
• hatchling
• hatcher

Usage notes

In American slang hatchery has been recorded for a psychiatric ward or mental institution.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge