chicken-and-egg
[ chik-uh n-uh n-eg, -uh nd- ]
/ ˈtʃɪk ən ənˈɛg, -ənd- /
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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.
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Nearby words
- chicken switch,
- chicken tetrazzini,
- chicken turtle,
- chicken wire,
- chicken with its head cut off,
- chicken-fried,
- chicken-fry,
- chicken-hearted,
- chicken-livered,
- chicken-shit
Also chick·en-or-egg [chik-uh n-er-eg] /ˈtʃɪk ən ərˈɛg/.
Origin of chicken-and-egg
First recorded in 1955–60
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for chicken-and-egg
“It is a chicken-and-egg thing,” says one senior Western diplomat in Doha.