Talk:chicken

RFV discussion: November 2015–February 2017
To develop characteristics of a chicken. I am doubtful that that sense exists. I would probably say chickenize if I needed to -- which oddly enough does seem to be a valid word, though not with that meaning. WurdSnatcher (talk) 22:43, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
 * I think that would be gallicize, although that also has a different implication. *Imagines chicken in striped shirt and beret*  Delete as nonsense, and per similar discussion over "house" at RfD.  P Aculeius (talk) 13:21, 17 November 2015 (UTC)
 * I've added the other sense to this RfV under the L3 heading below to take advantage of any searching for the above sense. DCDuring TALK 14:09, 17 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Failed: no quotations after an extended period of discussion, a Google Books search turned up nothing relevant, and this sense is absent from the OED Online. — SMUconlaw (talk) 16:09, 10 February 2017 (UTC)

avoid as a result of fear
"(intransitive) To avoid something as a result of fear."

Does this sense of chicken shown exist other than in chicken out? If not, we need at least to modify the entry to show the required complement, though I think it doesn't belong in this entry. DCDuring TALK 14:09, 17 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Searched "he chickened" -out. Got a few hits, all of which seem to be shortened versions of "chickened out", with the same meaning.  P Aculeius (talk) 14:59, 17 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I was originally going to rfv that sense, but saw it has some use. I was curious if there are any phrasal verbs whose first component can't be a standalone verb. I guess this sorta counts since I'm sure chicken out came first, so there must have been some time before chicken was used on its own (at least 1946). WurdSnatcher (talk)


 * I searched for "he chickened the" on Google Books, hoping for something like "he chickened the dare". All I found was "he chickened the rest of the way out", which I think is some kind of resultative construction (cf. "died a death", "the dog barked me awake"). Eirikr is right about! Equinox ◑ 01:15, 18 November 2015 (UTC)


 * I parse that more as an alternative construction to "he chickened out the rest of the way". ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │Tala við mig 21:51, 17 November 2015 (UTC)


 * What I was getting was "he chickened before he could do blah" and similar hits. Should be chickened out, but with the out omitted.  P Aculeius (talk) 23:41, 17 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Yeah, it's actually marked intransitive. Sorry, I wasn't paying enough attention. Equinox ◑ 02:36, 18 November 2015 (UTC)


 * There's a few that look questionable to me:   WurdSnatcher (talk)
 * Those look like good cites. I think that the sense of ''chicken in question is a backformation from chicken out, ie, a different etymology. DCDuring TALK 02:43, 18 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Cited and moved to a different etymology. WurdSnatcher (talk) 18:19, 18 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Not a backformation, just elision of the word 'out'. Renard Migrant (talk) 10:22, 19 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Omission rather. Renard Migrant (talk) 16:44, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

What about Coq in french?
 * It's complicated, because "chicken" has no gender, but in French everything is either male or female. I'm not fluent in French, but I believe  refers only to the adult male. On the other hand, it looks like  only refers to the adult female. I added "coq" to parallel "poule", and, which covers both genders- though I'm not sure if it refers to adults (as animals rather than as food, anyway). I hope I got it right (feel free to correct it if I didn't). In older English, chicken originally applied to just the younger ones, but in modern usage it can refer to any age or gender. Chuck Entz (talk) 00:09, 6 April 2020 (UTC)