Etymograph

English

chick

Chick comes from Middle English chiken ‘chicken", also "chick’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Germanic *kukkīną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kukkīną1uncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kiukīn1‘chicken’uncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċicen2‘chicken’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chiken2‘chicken", also "chick’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chicke2variation of chiken
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1795chick2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English cicen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English chick
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1795, William Marshall: “plowing in his oats with a very feet furrow;…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kukkīnąWiktionary, Old English cicenuncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kiukīnWiktionary, Old English cicen‘chicken’uncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċicenWiktionary, English chick‘chicken’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chikenWiktionary, English chick‘chicken", also "chick’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chickeWiktionary, English chickvariation of chiken
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1795chickWiktionary, English chick. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1795, William Marshall: “plowing in his oats with a very feet furrow;…”

The story

Sense of "young woman" dates to at least 1860 (compare chit (‘young, pert woman’)).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *kukkīną

Another origin of chick

  1. Classical Persianc. 900–presentچقčiq
  2. Englishtodaychick

Today it means

noun A young bird.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “chick”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English cicen. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *kukkīną / chick

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