csibe

Csibe is a Hungarian noun meaning a young chicken, i.e., a chick. It refers to the juvenile stage of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus) and is commonly used in farming, poultry-keeping, and everyday language about birds.

Chicks hatch from eggs after an incubation period of about 21 days. In their first weeks, csibék are covered in down and grow rapidly, passing through early life stages before becoming juveniles and then adults. In Hungarian, the typical adult female is called tyúk (hen) and the adult male is kakas (rooster), while csibe remains the general term for a baby bird of this species.

In usage, csibe is a everyday, neutral term applied to very young chickens. It also appears in Hungarian children’s literature and songs as a familiar image of a small, dependent bird. The plural form is csibék.

Overall, csibe serves as the standard vocabulary for young chickens in Hungarian, without specifying breed, sex, or age beyond the early developmental stage.