雞

雞 (Kangxi radical 172, 隹+10, 18 strokes, cangjie input 月大人土 (BKOG), four-corner 2041₄, composition ⿰奚隹)

• 𤄬, 𤣕, 𭌲, 𧄰

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1369, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 42124
• Dae Jaweon: page 1875, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4105, character 2
• Unihan data for U+96DE

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *keː) : phonetic 奚 (OC *ɡeː) + semantic 隹 (“short-tailed bird”).

Onomatopoeic (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Proto-Vietic *r-kaa (> Vietnamese gà), Proto-Tai *kajᴮ (“chicken”), Proto-Hmong-Mien *Kəi.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• (to fire): From 無情雞／无情鸡 (mou⁴ cing⁴ gai¹, “pink slip”).

雞

1. chicken; fowl (Classifier: 隻／只 m c)

   雞肉／鸡肉  ―  jīròu  ―  chicken meat

   雞蛋／鸡蛋  ―  jīdàn  ―  chicken egg

   • 雞棲于塒、日之夕矣、羊牛下來。……
     雞棲于桀、日之夕矣、羊牛下括。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     鸡栖于埘、日之夕矣、羊牛下来。……
     鸡栖于桀、日之夕矣、羊牛下括。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Jī qī yú shí, rì zhī xī yǐ, yángniú xiàlái.......
     Jī qī yú jié, rì zhī xī yǐ, yángniú xiàguā. [Pinyin]

     The fowls roost in their holes in the walls; and in the evening of the day, the goats and cows come down [from the hill]. [...]
     The fowls roost on their perches; and in the evening of the day, the goats and cows come down and home.

2. 10th of the Chinese zodiac animals (rooster)
3. (slang) female prostitute

   Coordinate term: 鴨／鸭 (yā)

   做雞／做鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  zou⁶ gai¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to be a prostitute

4. (slang) penis
5. (Cantonese, Huicheng dialect) whistle

   吹雞／吹鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  ceoi¹ gai¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to blow a whistle

   銀雞／银鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  ngan⁴ gai¹ [Jyutping]  ―  silver whistle

6. (Cantonese, Huicheng dialect, Hokkien) trigger (of a gun)

   摱雞／摱鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  maan¹ gai¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to pull the trigger

7. (Cantonese) weak; useless
8. (Cantonese, non-productive) Suffix for adjectives describing a weak or useless person.

   弱雞／弱鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  joek⁶ gai¹ [Jyutping]  ―  weak; wimpy

   揗雞／揗鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  tan⁴ gai¹ [Jyutping]  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

9. (Cantonese) to fire; to sack
10. (Cantonese) Alternative form of 笄

• (trigger): 扳機／扳机 (bānjī); (Min Nan) 銃雞／铳鸡, 剾雞／𠛅鸡

• → Indonesian: ayam (“prostitute”) (semantic loan)
• →? Proto-Tai: *kajᴮ (see there for further descendants)

• (Chinese zodiac signs) 鼠 (shǔ), 牛 (niú), 虎 (hǔ), 兔 (tù), 龍／龙 (lóng), 蛇 (shé), 馬／马 (mǎ), 羊 (yáng), 猴 (hóu), 雞／鸡 (jī), 狗 (gǒu), 豬／猪 (zhū) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese zodiac signs)}

• “雞”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 𨿸)

1. chicken (domesticated fowl)
2. bird

• Go-on: け (ke)
• Kan-on: けい (kei)
• Kun: にわとり (niwatori, 雞)^{←にはとり (nifatori, にはとり, historical)}; とり (tori, 雞); かけ (kake, 雞)

For the niwatori reading:

For the tori reading:

For the kake reading:

• Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

雞 (eumhun 닭 계 (dak gye))

1. Hanja form^? of 계 (“chicken”).

雞: Nôm readings: gà[1]
雞: Hán Nôm readings: kê[2][3][4][5][6]

1. chicken