plural noun
More than one common farm bird kept for its eggs or meat.
The chickens are in the yard.
The farmer feeds the chickens every morning.
American English
How to pronounce chickens
nounA1Common word
CHIHknz
/ˈʧɪ.kn̩z/
2 syllables · Stress the first syllable.
Form of chicken
For the meat, English usually uses chicken, not chickens.
More than one common farm bird kept for its eggs or meat.
Practice out loudMeanings & examples
plural noun
People who are not brave because they are afraid to do something.
They called us chickens for refusing to jump.
My brothers are chickens when they have to speak in public.
Good to know
This meaning is informal; coward is more neutral in formal English.
Useful expressions
to decide not to do something because you are afraid
She chickened out before the interview.
to play a dangerous game in which each person tries to make the other stop or move first
The two drivers were playing chicken.
a problem in which it is difficult to know which of two things came first or caused the other
It is a chicken-and-egg problem.