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chicken-and-egg

American

[chik-uhn-uhn-eg, -uhnd-] / ˈtʃɪk ən ənˈɛg, -ənd- /

Also chicken-or-egg

adjective

of, relating to, or being a dilemma of which of two things came first or of which is the cause and which the effect.

a chicken-and-egg question of whether matter or energy is the basis of the universe.

Etymology

Origin of chicken-and-egg

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Macroeconomists face their own version of the chicken-and-egg problem: Is spending driving employment, or is employment driving spending?

From MarketWatch • Oct. 30, 2025

This is the chicken-and-egg question: Did people become homeless because they were mentally ill, or did they become mentally ill because of the “harsh existence” of being homeless?

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 10, 2025

Resolving this chicken-and-egg dilemma, as Dr Kirkham put it, would shed light on how serious the impacts of losing today's Antarctic ice shelves might be.

From BBC • Apr. 24, 2025

Sanchez-Roige acknowledged that there is a chicken-and-egg aspect to their findings.

From Science Daily • Apr. 5, 2024

The process is infinitely recursive—the ultimate chicken-and-egg story.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023