chicken-hearted

See also: chickenhearted

English

WOTD – 17 January 2012

Etymology

From chicken + hearted, after chicken heart. Compare hen-hearted.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

chicken-hearted (comparative more chicken-hearted, superlative most chicken-hearted)

1. Not brave; lacking courage; cowardly. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: hen-hearted (archaic); see also Thesaurus:cowardly

   Antonyms: lionhearted; see also Thesaurus:brave

   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     This chicken-hearted couple, by the light of a rush-candle that burned on the hearth, seeing a stranger burst into the chamber, in such a terrible attitude, were seized with consternation […] .

Derived terms

• chicken-heartedly
• chicken-heartedness

 

Translations

lacking courage

• Finnish: jänishousuinen
• German: ängstlich (de), furchtsam (de)
• Hungarian: nyúlszívű (hu), gyáva (hu)
• Ido: poltrona (io)
• Spanish: gallina (es)
• Swedish: harhjärtad, feg (sv)