chicken

1 of 3

noun

chick·​en ˈchi-kᵊn 

 sometimes  -kᵊŋ

plural chickens

1

a

: the common domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) especially when young

also : its flesh used as food compare jungle fowl

b

: any of various birds or their young

2

: a young woman

3

a

: coward

b

: any of various contests in which the participants risk personal safety in order to see which one will give up first

4

[short for chickenshit] slang : petty details

5

slang : a young or youthful gay man

also : a boy or young man regarded as an object of sexual interest especially by a man compare chicken hawk sense 3

chicken

2 of 3

adjective

1

a

: scared

b

: timid, cowardly

2

slang

a

: insistent on petty details of duty or discipline

b

: petty, unimportant

chicken

3 of 3

verb

chickened; chickening ˈchi-kᵊn-iŋ 

ˈchik-niŋ

intransitive verb

: to lose one's nerve

—usually used with out

seemed to exhibit courage, manliness, and conviction when others chickened out

—J. R. Seeley

Synonyms

Noun

• coward
• craven
• cur
• dastard
• funk
• poltroon
• recreant
• sissy

Adjective

• chicken-livered
• chickenhearted
• cowardly
• craven
• dastardly
• gutless
• lily-livered
• milk-livered [archaic]
• poltroon
• pusillanimous
• recreant
• spineless
• unheroic
• yellow

Examples of chicken in a Sentence

Noun

We had chicken for dinner.

It's just a spider, you chicken!

Don't be such a big chicken.

Adjective

too chicken to go through with the stunt

just concentrate on the important duties of the job and forget about the chicken stuff

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Every spring, handlers offer Al a large piece of chicken. —Corey Buhay, Outside Online, 7 Nov. 2024

This can be an issue for pet owners and farmers, since coyotes are known to go after pets and livestock including dogs, cats, chickens, goats, and sheep. —Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 7 Nov. 2024

Air Force One's coms went down because of malicious code planted by Leonard Rish’s daughter in the NCIS-verse’s 1,000th episode, and the vice president actually just ate some bad chicken. —Sara Netzley, EW.com, 5 Nov. 2024

Add more chicken stock, 1 teaspoon at a time, if mixture is too dry. —Ann Taylor Pittman, Southern Living, 4 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English chiken, from Old English cicen young chicken; akin to Old English cocc cock

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adjective

1883, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1943, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing chicken

• chicken-and-egg
• chicken colonel
• chicken feed
• chicken-fried steak
• chicken hawk
• chicken-livered
• chicken mushroom
• chicken noodle soup
• chicken of the woods
• chicken out
• chicken pox
• chicken snake
• chicken soup
• chicken wire
• like a chicken with its head cut off
• Mother Carey's chicken
• popcorn chicken/shrimp
• prairie chicken
• rubber-chicken
• running around like a chicken with its head cut off
• spring chicken

Kids Definition

chicken

1 of 3 noun

chick·​en ˈchik-ən 

1

: the common domestic fowl especially when young

also : its flesh used as food

2

: any of various birds or their young

3

: coward

chicken

2 of 3 adjective

: cowardly sense 1

chicken

3 of 3 verb

chickened; chickening ˈchik-(ə-)niŋ 

: to lose one's courage

—usually used with out