チキン
also: チッキン
Meanings
1
Refers to chicken as food, not the live animal. Common in cooking contexts.
Let's make chicken curry tonight.
This chicken is very tender.
2
coward; scaredy-cat; wuss
Slang term for a cowardly person, derived from English 'chicken'. Often used teasingly.
He's a chicken, so he can't go into the haunted house.
Being scared of something like that—you're such a wuss.
Usage patterns
- チキンを焼くto grill/roast chicken
Let's grill some chicken and eat it tonight.
- 〈人〉はチキンだsomeone is a coward/wuss
He can't even go to the haunted house test—what a chicken.
- チキンを揚げるto fry chicken
My mother fried some chicken for me.
- チキンになるto chicken out; become a coward in the moment
I chickened out at the last moment and quit.