chicken
/ˈt͡ʃɪkɪn/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun
Also a form of chick
Forms chickens chickening chickened
- noun (countable) A domesticated subspecies of red junglefowl (Gallus gallus domesticus). “backyard chickens”
- noun (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food. “boneless chicken”
- noun (obsolete) The young of any bird; a chick.
- noun (countable, slang, sometimes derogatory) A coward.
- noun (countable, slang, sometimes derogatory) A young or inexperienced person.
- noun (countable, Polari) A young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair; compare chickenhawk.
- noun (uncountable) The game of dare.
- noun 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.”
- adjective (informal, sometimes derogatory) Cowardly. “Why do you refuse to fight? Huh, I guess you're just too chicken.”
- verb (intransitive) To avoid a situation one is afraid of.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Alaska.
Synonyms
pullet bottler caitiff candy-ass candy-arse coistril coward chicken liver chickenshit cocktail cowardy custard craven dog fraidy cat funker gutless wonder invertebrate jessie lizard milquetoast poulet volaille Gallus gallus wimp crybaby chickenhearted lily-livered white-livered yellow yellow-bellied
Etymology
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”).
Shortening of chicken out.
From chick + -en (plural ending).
Chosen instead of ptarmigan (a common local bird) because of a dispute over the correct spelling.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A young bird or fowl, esp. a young barnyard fowl.
- noun A young person; a child; esp. a young woman; a maiden. "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.
Etymology [AS. cicen, cyceun, dim. of coc cock; akin to LG. kiken, küken, D. Kieken, kuiken, G. küchkein. See Cock the animal.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “chicken”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details