Chicken

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈt͡ʃɪk.ɪn/
• US IPA: /ˈt͡ʃɪk.ɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɪkɪn

Origin

From Middle English, from Old English ċicen, cycen ("chicken"), diminutive of coc, cocc ("cock, rooster"), or from Proto-Germanic *kiukīną. Cognate with Dutch kuiken ("chick, chicken"), Low German küken ("chicken"), German Küken ("chick"), German dialectal Küchlein ("chicken") and Old Norse kjúklingr ("chicken"). More at cock, -en.

Full definition of chicken

Noun

1. (countable) A domestic fowl, Gallus gallus, especially when young
2. (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.
3. (countable, slang) A coward.
4. (countable, gay slang) A young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair. Cf. chickenhawk
5. (countable, slang) A young or inexperienced person.
• 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, III:"This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked. "It beats anything I have seen, and I am no chicken."
• Jonathan SwiftStella is no chicken.
6. 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 loser.Don't play chicken with a freight train; you're guaranteed to lose.
7. The game of dare.

Synonyms

• (bird) cock male only, chook Australia, NZ, hen female only, rooster male only
• (coward)
• (young, attractive, slim man) twink
• (young inexperienced person) spring chicken

Derived terms

Related terms

• chick

Adjective

1. cowardly

Verb

1. (intransitive) To avoid as a result of fear.
2. (intransitive) To develop physical or other characteristics resembling a chicken's, for example, bumps on the skin.

Derived terms

• chicken out
• chicken legs

Anagrams

• check in, check-in