- [countable]
a large bird that is often kept for its eggs or meat 雞 
They keep chickens in the back yard. 他們在後院養雞。 free-range chickens 自由放養的雞 Chickens were pecking at the ground. 小雞在啄食地面。 the sound of chickens clucking 雞咯咯叫的聲音
Extra ExamplesTopics Birdsa1A few chickens were scratching around the yard. 幾只雞在院子裏到處刨。 Are we just going to sit here like trussed up chickens? 難道我們只能像被縛的雞一樣呆坐在這裏嗎？ Battery chickens have miserable lives. 在雞籠裏飼養的雞生存環境很差。 Free-range chickens have happy lives. 放養的雞活得快活。 a crate of live chickens 一箱活雞
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- battery
- broiler
- corn-fed
- …
- keep
- raise
- kill
- …
- peck
- scratch
- cluck
- …
- farmer
- coop
- run
- …
- [uncountable]
meat from a chicken 雞肉 fried chicken 炸雞 roast/grilled chicken 烤雞 succulent pieces of chicken 鮮嫩美味的雞肉塊 chicken and chips 炸雞塊配炸薯條 chicken breasts/wings 雞胸肉/雞翅 chicken livers/thighs 雞肝/雞腿 chicken nuggets 雞肉塊 a chicken sandwich 雞肉三明治 chicken soup 雞湯 chicken stock 原汁雞湯
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- fresh
- frozen
- organic
- …
- piece
- strip
- eat
- have
- cook
- …
- breast
- drumsticks
- giblets
- …
- (a) breast of chicken
- (a) leg of chicken
- [countable]
a person who is not brave or is afraid to do something 膽怯；懦弱；怯懦 He called me a chicken because I wouldn't swim in the river. 他叫我膽小鬼，因爲我不願意到河裏遊泳。
Word OriginOld English cīcen, cȳcen, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kieken and German Küchlein, and probably also to cock.
Idioms
a chicken-and-egg situation, problem, etc.
a situation in which it is difficult to tell which one of two things was the cause of the other 雞與蛋孰先難定的情況；因果難定的問題
something comes home to roost
(also the chickens come home to roost)
used to say that if somebody says or does something bad or wrong, it will affect them badly in the future 自食惡果；報應到自己身上
don’t count your chickens (before they are hatched)
- (saying)
you should not be too confident that something will be successful, because something may still go wrong 不要蛋未孵化先數小雞；别過早打如意算盤
play chicken
to play a game in which people do something dangerous for as long as they can to show how brave they are. The person who stops first has lost the game. 比試膽量 The children had been playing chicken by running across the railway line. 孩子們跑過鐵路線是在玩小雞遊戲。
run around like a headless chicken
to be very busy and active trying to do something, but not very organized, with the result that you do not succeed 茫無頭緒地瞎忙一通