Chick″en (?), n. [AS. cicen, cyceun, dim. of coc cock; akin to LG. kiken, küken, D. Kieken, kuiken, G. küchkein. See Cock the animal.] 1. A young bird or fowl, esp. a young barnyard fowl.
2. A young person; a child; esp. a young woman; a maiden. “Stella is no chicken.” Swift.
Chicken cholera, a contagious disease of fowls; — so called because first studied during the prevalence of a cholera epidemic in France. It has no resemblance to true cholera.