Chicken

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃɪkɪn/

Definitions

1. A bird commonly kept on farms for its eggs and meat ; the edible flesh of this bird used as food ; a person who lacks courage or is easily frightened
2. A poultry species often raised in yards for egg-laying and meat production ; the food derived from this bird's body, eaten cooked ; someone considered timid or fearful
3. A domesticated fowl popular in cooking and farming ; meat obtained from this bird served in dishes ; an individual viewed as lacking bravery or resolve

Etymology: Old English had "ċicen," and its origin is genuinely uncertain. Scholars have proposed a Proto-West Germanic root that may connect it to "cock," since the word may once have meant a young bird of either sex before narrowing to the young fowl we eat. Cognates across the Germanic languages, such as Dutch "kuiken" and German "Küken," still mean "chick," which hints that the older sense was the small, newly hatched bird rather than the grown animal. The modern meaning is a later development. In Middle English, "chiken" could also name the young of birds generally, and the word only gradually became the everyday name for the adult domestic fowl. Meanwhile "chick," a shortened form of the same root, took over the sense of the young bird. Today's form also carries a small grammatical oddity: "chicken" is essentially "chick" with the old plural suffix "-en" attached, the same ending found in "oxen" and "children." The plural ending became part of the singular form, which is why the word now sounds like a word that is already plural.

Synonyms: poultry, fowl, hen, rooster, bird

Antonyms: eagle, hawk, falcon, predator, lion