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 May 6, 2026) - To shy away from a daring task; to decline, refuse, or avoid something due to fear or uncertainty.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chicken out |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chicken out” sits in English frequency
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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “chicken out”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-I-C-K-E-N- -O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.