chicken out
"chicken-out" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chicken out” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To shy away from a daring task; to decline, refuse, or avoid something due to fear or uncertainty.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chicken-out · chicken out · English
chicken out · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chicken out |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “chicken out” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chicken out is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To shy away from a daring task; to decline, refuse, or avoid something due to fear or uncertainty.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for chicken out, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is chicken out, spelled C-H-I-C-K-E-N- -O-U-T.
Definition
- 1To shy away from a daring task; to decline, refuse, or avoid something due to fear or uncertainty.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chicken out appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We almost convinced his dad to ride the roller coaster, but he chickened out when he saw how high it went.
I dismiss Reporters Without Borders. Completely nonsensical. We invited them in for a select committee hearing, and in the true heritage of free speech, they chickened out.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.