chicken

(plural: ‘chickens‘; pronunciation: the letters ‘ch’ rhyme with the letters ‘ch’ in “church”, and the letters ‘ck’ are said with a ‘k’ sound as in “king”)

chickens — a hen & a cock

a kind of bird – the common domestic (farm yard) fowl, believed to have descended from ‘gray jungle-fowl’ found in India; different kinds are found in different sizes and colours – males (cocks) are taller, heavier and more robust than females (hens); feeds on (eats) seeds, insects, lizards and, some times, fruit and vegetables; in nature, lives for 5-11 years – according to Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest hen died at the age of 16 years; kept for its eggs and meat, now found virtually all over the world

The meat of the chicken is also called ‘chicken’. And most often, the word ‘chicken’ is used to refer to the meat of a hen or cock, e.g. We had chicken for lunch., but never used in its plural form — chickens — in this context, i.e. it is wrong to say: We had chickens for lunch.
male ~~ cock (in British English); rooster (in American English) male under one year ~~ cockerel

female ~~ hen ; female under one year — pullet

baby ~~ chick

group ~~ (adult) flock; (chicks) brood, clutch

voice (calls) ~~

cock – crow,cackle;

hen – cluck;

chick – chirp

home ~~ nest (for egg laying, in nature); coop/hen coop, chicken run, chicken pen; cage (man-made)

Special Features:

chicken as food

The ‘Rhode Island red chicken’ is the state bird of Rhode Island, USA.

The chicken is one of the most common of all the birds in the world.

They are one of the main food sources in almost all parts of the world.

Poultry farming (keeping hens for eggs and meat) is a multi-million dollar business in almost every country in the world.

battery chickens

‘Battery chicken’ are the chicken raised on huge farms where a large number of hens are kept in small cages and are fed on special chicken feed so that the chicken grow fatter and fatter, and lay more and more eggs!  These battery chicken are short lived.

The cocks are more attractive with bright colourful feathers – long curved tail feathers.

chicken’s comb & wattles

Though both cock and hen grow fleshy crests called comb or cockscombs (=usually red, fleshy growth) on their heads, and wattles (= usually red, loose skin folds) that hang down from under their beaks (bills), only the male looks majestic with more prominent comb, wattles, and the long colourful tail feathers.

 

Cocks do not crow only at dawn (= early morning hours), as is believed by many; they crow anytime of the day they like!

For cocks, crowing is a sign of marking its area warning the other cocks, and to communicate with its hens, but not just to wake up lazy sleepy people in the morning!

Figures of Speech:
1.

chicken (noun)  =

(a)  a cowardly person

(b)  a young person

2.

chicken out  =  to back down; to decide not to do something out of fear of not being successful – from a fight, difficulty, argument, etc.

3.

chickenfeed  =  (the original meaning = food for a chicken) [but it is used to say that a reward, payment, income, etc. is very, very small]

4.

chicken-shit  =  (a)  a cowardly person who is afraid to do something risky (b)  said of some information passed down from higher authority; the vexations (= annoyance and helplessness) of small, incorrect details, especially the unnecessary details, of the official proceedings

5.

(a)  to be no chicken

(b)  no chicken

(c)  no spring chicken [said to mean that a particular person is not young any more]

6.

to have January chickens  =  to have children in old age

7.

as weak as a chicken

8.

to count one’s chickens before they hatch (or before they are hatched) =  to be overconfident of something happening in the future, usually without proper basis for such confidence; or to think of the good or profitable out come before any effort is made

9.

curses, like chickens, come home to roost [a saying to mean that the consequences (= results) of wrong doings come back (catch up with) to the person who does them, and he/she has to face them]

10.

chicken-and-egg situation [said of a situation where a person finds it difficult or impossible to decide which of the two things or happenings is the cause and which is the effect – which is the first and which is the second]

11.

chicken-hearted (also chicken-livered)  =  cowardly

12.

chickenpox  =  an infectious diseases

Return to “cock“.    Return to “crybaby” in People & Professions.

About the Author:BC Kumar

BC Kumar, an English Language Teacher, taught in numerous countries including Ethiopia, Oman and India, shares his knowledge and passion for the English Language. Disclaimer: This is a free educational website and all content has been compiled by the author. All copyrights to images and videos belong to their respective owners.

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