chicken feed

American  

noun

Slang.

1. an insignificant sum of money.

   He's so rich that $1000 is chicken feed to him.

2. small change, as pennies and nickels.

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chicken feed British  

noun

1. slang a trifling amount of money

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chicken feed Idioms  

1. Trifling amount of money, as in I'm not going to mow lawns for $5 an hour—that's chicken feed. This expression alludes to the fact that chickens can be fed corn and wheat grains too small for other uses. [Slang; early 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of chicken feed

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Example Sentences

“Their needs and their wants are completely different than what we need here,” said Pamela Davis, 40, who was loading bags of chicken feed into the back of her SUV in Yuba City.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 20, 2025

That might be chicken feed for a company of the size of Red Bull.

From BBC • Jul. 9, 2025

Insinuating that Michelle Obama might throw her hat into the presidential race, which she's gone on the record saying she'd never do, is throwing chicken feed to the cluckers.

From Salon • Sep. 9, 2023

That’s chicken feed compared with the 350 million tons of meat consumed around the world — a number that is only expected to grow.

From New York Times • Jun. 21, 2023

On Wednesdays, she paced outside, around the kolba, tossed chicken feed absentmindedly into the coop.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini