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Wiktionary

chicken

See also: Chicken

Contents

EnglishEdit

 
A chicken
 
A cockerel (centre) surrounded by hens
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PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English chiken (also as chike > English chick), from Old English ċicen, ċycen (“chicken”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *kiukīną (“chicken”), or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *kukkīną, equivalent to cock +‎ -en (diminutive suffix). Compare North Frisian schückling (“chicken”), Saterland Frisian Sjuuken (“chicken”), Dutch kuiken (“chick, chicken”), Low German küken (“chicken”), German Küken (“chick”), dialectal German Küchlein (“chicken”) and Old Norse kjúklingr (“chicken”).

NounEdit

chicken (countable and uncountable, plural chickens)

  1. (countable) A domestic fowl, Gallus gallus, especially when young.
    • 1997, Beverley Randell, Clive Harper, Chickens, Nelson Thornes (→ISBN), page 8:
      Some chickens lay eggs almost every day. […] Chickens are kept for their meat, too.
  2. (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.
    • 1995, Jean Paré, Chicken, Etc., Company's Coming Publishing Limited (→ISBN), page 7:
      Before cooking chicken, or other poultry, rinse with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.
  3. (countable, slang) A coward.
    • 2008, Lanakila Michael Achong, Haole Boy: The Adoption of Diversity, iUniverse (→ISBN), page 44:
      Usually, I had no problem approaching girls, but this one was different. I went home and berated myself for being such a chicken.
  4. (countable, slang) A young or inexperienced person.
    • 1752, Jonathan Swift, “Stella's Birth-day, 1720”, in The Works of D. Jonathan Swift. In Nine Volumes. The Seventh Edition, to which is Prefixed, the Doctor's Life, with Remarks on His Writings, from the Earl of Orrery and Others, not to be Found in any Former Edition of His Works, volume II (Containing His Poetical Writings), 7th edition, Dublin; Edinburgh: [P]rinted; and [...] reprinted, for G. Hamilton & J. Balfour, & L. Hunter at Edinburgh; and A. Stalker, at Glasgow; and sold by them and other booksellers, OCLC 642497542, page 99:
      Purſue your trade of ſcandal-picking, / Your hints, that Stella is no chicken: / Your innuendos, when you tell us, / That Stella loves to talk with fellows; […]
    • 1886, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Lauriston Garden Mystery”, in A Study in Scarlet (Beeton's Christmas Annual; 28th season), London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., November 1887, OCLC 15800088; republished as A Study in Scarlet. A Detective Story, new edition, London: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co., 1892, OCLC 23246292, page 43:
      "This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked. "It beats anything I have seen, and I am no chicken."
  5. (countable, Polari) A young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair; compare chickenhawk.
  6. The game of dare.
    1. A confrontational game in which the participants move toward each other at high speed (usually in automobiles); the player who turns first to avoid colliding into the other is the chicken (that is, the loser.)
      Don't play chicken with a freight train; you're guaranteed to lose.
  7. A simple dance in which the movements of a chicken are imitated.
SynonymsEdit
HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from chicken (noun)
DescendantsEdit
TranslationsEdit
young, attractive, slim man — see twink
See alsoEdit

AdjectiveEdit

chicken (comparative more chicken, superlative most chicken)

  1. (informal) Cowardly.
    Why do you refuse to fight? Huh, I guess you're just too chicken.
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

Shortening of chicken out.

VerbEdit

chicken (third-person singular simple present chickens, present participle chickening, simple past and past participle chickened)

  1. (intransitive) To avoid a situation one is afraid of.
    • 1964, Max Shulman, Anyone Got a Match?, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, OCLC 176716, page 31:
      For the umpteenth time, I chickened.
    • 1968, Aidan Chambers, The Chicken Run: A Play for Young People, Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, →ISBN, Act II, scene v, page 81:
      ABE: What are you chucking it for, then? You're running, aren't you? Running, cos you chickened. / SLIM: All right, so I chickened.
    • 2014, Anne M. Brown, “James Day”, in Belonging: The Story of How James Became a Brown, Acacia Ridge, Qld.: Australian eBook Publisher, →ISBN:
      To reach the lower branches of the blackwood one had to swing Tarzan-like across a narrow gully choked with gorse and blackberries. […] [T]he challenge of the rope swing was definitely more in James' line. […] Even if he slipped and failed, or worse, chickened, they would be unlikely to judge too harshly.

Etymology 3Edit

From chick +‎ -en (plural ending).

NounEdit

chicken

  1. (Britain dialectal or obsolete) plural of chick
    • 1669, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London:
      The 21 or 22 day the Chicken are hatch'd; […]

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

ScotsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English chicken.

NounEdit

chicken (plural chickens)

  1. chicken
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