A chicken is a common farm bird raised for its meat and eggs. Informally, calling someone a “chicken” means they are easily scared or unwilling to take risks.
“Chicken” comes from Old English “cicen,” which referred to a young bird, especially a young domestic fowl. Over time, it became the main word for the species itself.
Calling someone a “chicken” taps into the bird’s nervous, flapping behavior when frightened. Chickens are actually dinosaurs’ closest living relatives in your kitchen—genetically, they’re tiny, feathered echoes of T. rex. Your chicken nugget is more prehistoric than it looks.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.