Etymograph

English

chicken

Chicken comes from Middle English chiken ‘a young chicken, chick, pullet’, and goes back to Old English ċicen.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċicen1
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chiken1‘a young chicken’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1752chicken1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English chicken
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1752, Jonathan Swift, Stella's Birth-day, 1720: “Purſue your trade of ſcandal-picking, Your hints, that Stella…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċicenWiktionary, English chicken
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chikenWiktionary, English chicken‘a young chicken’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1752chickenWiktionary, English chicken. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1752, Jonathan Swift, Stella's Birth-day, 1720: “Purſue your trade of ſcandal-picking, Your hints, that Stella…”

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Today it means

noun A domesticated subspecies of red junglefowl (Gallus gallus domesticus).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “chicken”. 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 / Old English ċicen / chicken