# chick

Pronunciation: say "CHIK" /t͡ʃɪk/

## Noun

1. A young bird, especially a young chicken, that has recently hatched.
   - Simple: A baby bird, especially a baby chicken, that has just come out of its egg.
   - _Each chick in the nest opened its beak for food._
   - _Penguin chicks huddle together for warmth in the cold._
2. A young woman or girl, in casual speech; many people find the word disrespectful or sexist. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A young woman, in very casual talk. Many people think the word is rude to women.
   - _He introduced me to a chick he had met at the concert._
   - _My roommate swears the chick behind the coffee counter smiled at him again this morning._
4. A hanging blind for a doorway or window, made of thin bamboo slats strung together with twine. *(India, Pakistan)*
   - Simple: A screen made from thin strips of bamboo tied with string, hung over a door or window.
   - _A faded chick rattled against the doorframe in the breeze._
   - _Servants rolled up the chicks each morning to let in the light._

## Noun

3. A young child, used as an affectionate term now considered dated. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A young child, in an old-fashioned way of speaking.
   - _Come here, my chick, and let me see that scraped knee._
   - _When all six grandchildren arrived for the holidays, she bustled around the kitchen making sure each of her chicks had a full plate._

## Verb

5. To sprout from the ground as a seed does; to begin growing. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To begin to grow from a seed in the soil.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A friendly fighter aircraft, in military radio slang.
- (verb) To press the lips together and part them quickly, producing a short percussive sound.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5** — From Middle English chicke, a variant of chiken ("chicken" or "chick"), from Old English ċicen ("chicken"). The sense of "young woman" dates to at least 1860.
**Meaning 4** — English took this word for the blind from Hindustani چق (ciq) / चिक (cik), which itself goes back to Persian چق (čeq).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/chick (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).