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Webster 1913 Edition

Chicken

Chick′en

,
Noun.
[AS.
cicen
,
cyceun
, dim. of
coc
cock; akin to LG.
kiken
,
küken
, D.
Kieken
,
kuiken
, G.
küchkein
. See
Cock
the animal.]
1.
A young bird or fowl, esp. a young barnyard fowl.
2.
A young person; a child; esp. a young woman; a maiden; same as
spring chicken
.
“Stella is no chicken.”
Swift.
Chicken cholera
,
a contagious disease of fowls; – so called because first studied during the prevalence of a cholera epidemic in France. It has no resemblance to true cholera.

Webster 1828 Edition

Chicken

CHICKEN

,
Noun.
1.
The young of fowls, particularly of the domestic hen, or gallinaceous fowls.
2.
A person of tender years.
3.
A word of tenderness.

Definition 2024

Chicken

Chicken

See also: chicken

English

Proper noun

Chicken

  1. A census-designated place in Alaska.

German

Etymology

From English chicken.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈ(t)ʃɪkən/, [ˈtʃɪkən], [ˈtʃɪkŋ̩], [ˈʃɪkən], [ˈʃɪkŋ̩]
  • Homophone: schicken (according to the pronunciation without /t-/)

Noun

Chicken n ‎(genitive Chickens or Chicken, no plural)

  1. (uncountable, cooking) chicken (meat)

Usage notes

  • The word is used chiefly in compounds directly borrowed from English. However, there is also some independent productive use, for example in forms like Chickendöner.

Synonyms

chicken

chicken

See also: Chicken

English

Wikispecies

Noun

chicken ‎(countable and uncountable, plural chickens)

  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. Compare 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 Swift
      Stella 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 chicken (i.e., 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): see Wikisaurus:coward
  • (young, attractive, slim man): twink
  • (young inexperienced person): spring chicken
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Adjective

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 terms

Verb

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

  1. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (intransitive) To develop physical or other characteristics resembling a chicken's, for example, bumps on the skin.

See also

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.

Anagrams

Scots

Etymology

From English chicken.

Noun

chicken ‎(plural chickens)

  1. chicken

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪkɪn/
  • Rhymes: -ɪkɪn

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