chicken

English Online Dictionary. What means chicken‎? What does chicken mean?

English

Wikispecies

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: chĭk'ĭn, IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪkɪn/
• (General American, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪkən/
• Hyphenation: chick‧en
• Rhymes: -ɪkɪn, -ɪkən

Etymology 1

From Middle English chiken (also as chike > English chick), from Old English ċicen, ċycen (“chicken”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *kiukīn (“chicken”), or alternatively from Proto-West Germanic *kukkīn, equivalent to cock +‎ -en.

Compare North Frisian schückling (“chicken”), Saterland Frisian Sjuuken (“chicken”), Dutch kuiken (“chick, chicken”), German Low German Küken (“chick”), whence German Küken (“chick”), (elevated, obsolete) German Küchlein (“chick”) and Old Norse kjúklingr (“chicken”).

Noun

chicken (countable and uncountable, plural chickens)

2. (countable) A domesticated subspecies of red junglefowl (Gallus gallus domesticus), especially so-called when young.
3. (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.
4. (archaic) The young of any bird; a chick.
5. (countable, slang, sometimes derogatory) A coward.
   • (More commonly used as an adjective with this sense; see below.)
6. (countable, slang, sometimes derogatory) A young or inexperienced person.
   • 1886, Arthur 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."

7. (countable, Polari) A young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair; compare chickenhawk.
8. (uncountable) 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).
9. A simple dance in which the movements of a chicken are imitated.
10. (slang, US) A kilogram of cocaine.

    Synonyms: bird, brick
11. (obsolete) A small pewter pot used in a tavern.

    Coordinate term: hen

Synonyms

• (bird): biddy, chook (Australia, NZ)
• (coward): see Thesaurus:coward
• (young inexperienced person): spring chicken
• (young, attractive, slim man): twink

Hyponyms

• (bird): cock, cockerel, rooster (male), hen (female), chick (young), broiler (suitable as food)

Derived terms

Descendants

• → German: Chicken
• → Irish: sicín
• → Japanese: チキン (chikin)
• → Korean: 치킨 (chikin)

Translations

See also

• egg
• poultry
• 🐔

Adjective

chicken (comparative more chicken, superlative most chicken)

1. (informal, sometimes derogatory) Cowardly.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cowardly, Thesaurus:afraid

Derived terms

• chicken out

Etymology 2

Shortening of chicken out.

Verb

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.

Etymology 3

From chick +‎ -en (plural ending).

Noun

chicken

1. (UK dialectal or obsolete) plural of chick

Further reading

• chicken on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chicken (food) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chicken (game) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chicken (gay slang) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chicken (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “chicken”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

References

Anagrams

• check in, check-in, checkin', in check

Scots

Etymology

From English chicken.

Noun

chicken (plural chickens)

1. chicken