Chickenlike

Chickenlike is an adjective describing something that resembles or is reminiscent of a chicken in appearance, anatomy, behavior, or texture. The term is nontechnical and appears across disciplines, where a formal designation is not required.

In biology and paleontology, chickenlike traits may include a relatively short, upright stance; a beaked face; feather covering; or wing and leg proportions similar to those of Galliformes. The descriptor is often used informally to compare extant birds with extinct relatives or to characterize features in fossil specimens when they resemble modern chickens but do not define a taxon. It does not imply exact fidelity or a close systematic relationship.

In culinary or food-industry contexts, chickenlike describes textures or flavors that resemble chicken, such as certain plant-based proteins that mimic chicken skin, meat fibers, or mouthfeel in cooking. Sensory analysis panels may rate products as chickenlike when they approximate poultry characteristics.

In cultural or colloquial usage, chickenlike can describe timid or easily frightened behavior, drawing on the idiomatic sense of "chicken" as cowardly. The term is rarely used in formal writing when describing behavior, and is more common in informal speech.

Etymology: formed by the noun chicken plus the suffix -like, from the Old English word for the bird, and the productive English suffix meaning "like or resembling."