Chicken-hearted

adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not brave; lacking courage; cowardly.

    "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 […]."

Synonyms

All synonyms
backbonelessbasebitch-assbonelesscaitiffcandy-assed

Example

More examples

"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 […]."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

chicken-heartedlychicken-heartedness

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.