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From Middle English chicke, chike, variation of chiken (“chicken", also "chick”), from Old English ċicen, ċycen (“chicken”). Sense of "young woman" dates to at least 1860 (compare chit (“young, pert woman”)). More at chicken.

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɪk/

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• Rhymes: -ɪk

chick (plural chicks or (obsolete) chicken)

1. A young bird.

   Hypernyms: bird < animal < creature, critter

   Coordinate term: birdlet

   Near-synonyms: nestling, fledgling

   • 2023 August 24, Pádraig Hoare, “90% of emperor penguin colonies doomed to extinction by century's end”, in Irish Examiner‎^[1]:

     Published in the Communications Earth & Environment journal, scientists conclude that due to sea ice loss last year, it is highly probable that no chicks had survived from four of the five known emperor penguin colonies in the central and eastern Bellingshausen Sea in Antarctica.

   1. (especially) A young chicken.

      Hypernyms: chicken < poultry < bird < animal < creature, critter

      Coordinate terms: pullet, hen, cock, cockerel, rooster

      • 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 41:

        Neither chick nor child was left living the length of the seacoast.

2. (colloquial) An attractive, young woman; or, more generally, a woman.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:girl, Thesaurus:woman

   This chick's a machine but her friend is way more fun.

   They're going to have a chick weekend. No guys allowed.

   He'll fall for any chick with a nice smile.

   • 1860, Joseph Verey, Tinsel and Gold: A Fireside Story, London: James Blackwood, page 155:

     "I thought you had some common sense, Frank," said Uncle John; "but I see you are as great a fool as all the rest. Marry, indeed! A pretty chick to marry!"

   • 1927, Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry:

     He had determined that marriage now would cramp his advancement in the church and that, anyway, he didn't want to marry this brainless little fluffy chick, who would be of no help in impressing rich parishioners.

   • 1958, Jerry Leiber; Mike Stoller, “Three Cool Cats”:

     Three cool chicks / Are walking down the street / Swinging their hips

   • 1970, Gimme Shelter (motion picture), Mick Jagger (actor):

     Good. It's nice to have a chick occasionally.

   • 1985, Sting, Mark Knopfler, “Money for Nothing”, in Brothers in Arms, performed by Dire Straits:

     That ain't workin', that's the way you do it / Money for nothin', and chicks for free

   • 2004, Tess Pendergrass, Bad moon rising:

     I can't believe you've got a hot chick in that ratty apartment with you.

   • 2011, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, Penguin Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 168:

     "You’re asking too many questions. Look. You’re a cute kid. I mean, you’re a hell of a chick. You’re a knockout. But don’t go thinking you’re too important at this stage."

3. (military, slang) A friendly fighter aircraft.
   • 2004, Joe Welzen, The Gutsy Stomach Walker, page 50:

     The Aldis lamp flashes at the underside of each aircraft. It shows that the gear is down. Diegal is relaxing. This is such low responsibility, easy night duty. All the “chicks” (fighter aircraft) are home to roost except one.

4. (dated, endearing) A young child.

chick (third-person singular simple present chicks, present participle chicking, simple past and past participle chicked)

1. (obsolete) To sprout, as seed does in the ground; to vegetate.
   • 1795, William Marshall, The Rural Economy of Norfolk:

     plowing in his oats with a very feet furrow; and, after they have “chicked” but before they appear aboveground

2. To compress the lips and then separate them quickly, resulting in a percussive noise.
   • 1844, James Ballantine, The Miller of Deanhaugh:

     He chicked his lips; he cracked his whip; he winked with a knowing leer; he ran down the alley and up the stair, then down the stair and up the alley

Borrowed from Hindustani چق (ciq) / चिक (cik), ultimately from Persian چق.

• chik

chick (plural chicks)

1. (India, Pakistan) A screen or blind made of finely slit bamboo and twine, hung in doorways or windows.
   • 1890, Rudyard Kipling, Letter to William Canton, 5 April, 1890, in Sandra Kemp and Lisa Lewis (eds.) Writings on writing by Rudyard Kipling, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 34, [2]

     Then, through a cautiously lifted chick, the old scene stands revealed […]

   • 1905, A. C. Newcombe, chapter VII, in Village, Town, and Jungle Life in India‎^[3], Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 106:

     It is not uncommon at meal-time to see the table servants chasing the sparrows about the room, endeavouring to drive them out while some one holds up the "chick" or bamboo net which covers the doorway.

   • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 2”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:

     […] at this time of day all the verandas were curtained with green bamboo chicks.

   • 1999, Kevin Rushby, chapter 10, in Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, New York: St. Martin's Press, page 216:

     Outside I could hear the bamboo chick tapping on the door like a blind man's stick on a kerbstone.

• chick-blind

• chicked

• Henry Yule; A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903), “chick”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson[…], London: John Murray,[…], page 193.

• chicke

From Middle English chike, from Old English ċicen. Cognate with English chick, and Scots schik.

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɪk/

chick (plural chickès)

1. chicken

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 30

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