chicken-and-egg

adjective

chick·​en-and-egg ˈchi-kᵊn-ən(d)-ˈeg How to pronounce chicken-and-egg (audio)
-ˈāg
: of, relating to, or being a cause-and-effect dilemma

Examples of chicken-and-egg in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
That leaves recyclers confronting something of a circular chicken-and-egg problem. — Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 28 Aug. 2026 But letting that chicken-and-egg problem fester is going to doom a lot of promising technology innovation. — Rob Day, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026 Solutions to the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) problem have to date relied on new networking protocols built from scratch—only to discover chicken-and-egg problems, thorny standards wars, and real signal congestion challenges at scale. — IEEE Spectrum, 20 Aug. 2026 However, the feature game is something of a chicken-and-egg situation. — Amy Panos, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for chicken-and-egg

Word History

Etymology

from the proverbial question "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

First Known Use

1857, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of chicken-and-egg was in 1857

Rhymes for chicken-and-egg

See All Rhymes for chicken-and-egg

Browse Nearby Words

chicken's-toes
chicken-and-egg
chickenberry
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Chicken-and-egg.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chicken-and-egg. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of dissonant

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All