chicken and egg
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See also: chicken-and-egg
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From the proverbial question of whether the chicken or the egg came first, attested as early as Aristotle (4th century BCE).
Noun
chicken and egg pl (plural only)
- (usually attributively) A situation or case in which it is difficult to distinguish cause and effect, having a circular character.
- Synonym: hen and egg
- 2012, Charles H. Langmuir, Wally Broecker, How to Build a Habitable Planet: The Story of Earth from the Big Bang to Humankind, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 419:
- From present observation, A and B are needed to make C, and C is needed to make A and B. This chemical cycle has, again, a “chicken and egg” character.
- 2014 October 27, Michael Twaits, “How can we make cabaret a sustainable career in the performing arts?”, in The Guardian:
- Every other show on TV has a guest panel of comics, so why can’t a drag queen tell the latest Apprentice contestant: “You’re fired”? Or a mime taste the cakes on the Bake Off’s An Extra Slice? The answer is usually that we aren’t in the same network because of cabaret’s lack of presence outside of the live space – the classic chicken-and-egg of TV success.
- 2022 April 18, Ankita Rao, “Jamie Raskin on the climate crisis: ‘We’ve got to save democracy in order to save our species’”, in The Guardian:
- When it comes to fighting for democracy and climate change – two of Jamie Raskin’s top priorities – the whole thing feels a bit like a game of chicken and egg to the Democratic congressman.
Derived terms
Collocations
- chicken and egg dilemma
- chicken and egg paradox
- chicken and egg problem
- chicken and egg question
- chicken and egg situation
Further reading
- “chicken-and-egg”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “chicken-and-egg”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “chicken-and-(the-)egg” under “chicken, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
